America Is Falling Out of Love With Pizza

WSJ ^ | 1/4/2026 | Heather Haddon

[logi_cal869]

The restaurant industry is trying to figure out whether America has hit peak pizza.

Once the second-most common U.S. restaurant type, pizzerias are now outnumbered by coffee shops and Mexican food eateries, according to industry data. Sales growth at pizza restaurants has lagged behind the broader fast-food market for years, and the outlook ahead isn’t much brighter.

“Pizza is disrupted right now,” Ravi Thanawala, chief financial officer and North America president at Papa John’s International, said in an interview. “That’s what the consumer tells us.”

The parent of the Pieology Pizzeria chain filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December. Others, including the parent of Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza & Wings and Bertucci’s Brick Oven Pizza & Pasta, earlier filed for bankruptcy.

Pizza once was a novelty outside big U.S. cities, providing room for growth for independent shops and then chains such as Pizza Hut with its red roof dine-in restaurants. Purpose-made cardboard boxes and fleets of delivery drivers helped make pizza a takeout staple for those seeking low-stress meals.

Today, pizza shops are engaged in price wars with one another and other kinds of fast food. Food-delivery apps have put a wider range of cuisines and options at Americans’ fingertips. And $20 a pie for a family can feel expensive compared with $5 fast-food deals, frozen pizzas or eating a home-cooked meal.

[jonrick46]

This is my pizza recipe that uses a special sauce:

My Pizza Sauce—by jonrick46

You will need:
1 large onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
6 oz can tomato paste
28 oz can crushed tomato sauce
¼ cup Merlot wine
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
½ tsp marjoram
½ tsp thyme
½ tsp oregano
1-1/2 tsp basil
¼ tsp sage
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 very small pinch of cinnamon
1 TBS Concord grape jelly
1 carrot, peeled
White sugar to taste
Olive oil for cooking garlic and onions

Method:
1. Chop the carrot and put in with half of the tomato sauce, in a food processor or blender, and puree until smooth.
2. Mince onion and cook in olive oil until golden brown in a sauce pan. Do this on a low enough heat to keep this browning process under control to keep from burning. Add minced garlic and cook briefly before adding the other half of the tomato sauce. The tomato sauce can be used to stop the browning process of the onion at the perfect stage of browning. Note: never cook garlic until it turns brown. This causes the garlic to get bitter.
3. Add the tomato paste, the rest of the tomato sauce from the food processor, and all of the ingredients. Simmer on low, stirring `every ten minutes. Be careful not to cause the sauce to splatter due to excessive heat. When sauce is thick, add sugar to taste. Let cool, then put in a storage container for the refrigerator. This sauce can be stored in the freezer for six months.

Pizza Dough from a Bread Maker (you can hand knead and rise the conventional way):
You will need:
3 cups flour
1-1/4 cups water
2 tsp salt
2 TBS butter
2 tsp bread machine yeast

Method:
1. Put bread maker on 1st rise setting.
2. When cycle is complete, take dough out and spread out on a pizza pan. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spreading dough out on the pizza pan will take a little time because fresh dough has an elasticity that likes to return to its original shape. With a little punching and poking, the dough will form to the pan.
3. Without putting any ingredients on the pizza crust, put the pan in the 425 degree oven and cook the dough for 4 minutes. This precooks the dough so that the topping does not cause the dough to get gummy. You do not have a professional pizza oven and this step is necessary. The dough will have a stiff consistency when taken out. At this time you can put your toppings on the pizza crust.
4. First, spread a thin layer of sauce over the crust. Then, spread a layer of mozzarella cheese. Next, put your favorite toppings: pepperoni, red onion, olives, thin sliced tomato, mushrooms, anchovies, etc. Finally, put a thin layer of mozzarella cheese over your toppings.
5. Put your pizza in the 425 degree oven for 14 minutes. Check for done-ness. Add 5 more minutes if the topping appears watery.

[kerosene]

In case you haven't heard, in early 2026, Leprino Foods is shutting down one of its two dairy-processing plants in Lemoore, California. Its lost capacity will be handled by a new, one-billion-dollar plant in Lubbock, Texas.

World's largest mozzarella producer to close 115-year-old plant.

Leprino Foods to lay off hundreds in East Lemoore plant closure

[Morgana]

West Virginia has a chain of Pizza stores called Gino’s and they are very good. Still dine in and some have a buffet.

[kiryandil]

I tried throwing it in the air once, and it was a disaster. I didn’t catch it correctly, it slipped off and landed on top of the cat’s water dish! I will try it again...someday!

You have to let the dough relax. Too tight, it won't stretch.

I like to scrape the ceiling to show off.

[kiryandil]

Very good sauce recipe.

Pizza Hut adds parmesan to its sauce spice packet (#10 can of tomato sauce + spice packet).

I approve of your ingredients.

[FoxInSocks]

I usually have at least 12 medium sized fresh leaves, stalks discarded, and I stack them into a stack with decreasing leaf size as you stack, then roll them lengthwise to make a thick rolled tube of lovely basil. I keep perhaps another 6-10 whole leaves for the very end.

I slice the basil just as thin as I can, slicing along the tube as if it were a jelly roll

The technical term is chiffonade. :-)

[Tymesup]

New Haven pizza is still pretty good, with Pepe’s, Sally’s and Modern. Pepe’s and Sally’s now have multiple locations, don’t know how good these are, yet.

[wasmv80]

“Pizza is disrupted right now,” Ravi Thanawala, chief financial officer and North America president at Papa John’s International, said in an interview. “That’s what the consumer tells us.”

The disruption is something else.

[logi_cal869]

“That’s what the consumer tells us.”

Yes, Ravi's a moron.

[rxh4n1]

“The best USA pizza is in NYC. Has the quality there gone down?”

I hope not. I moved to Kansas from NY 20 years ago. NY Pizza, bagels, and dirty water dogs are what I miss.

[Olog-hai]

Not mozzarella? What, then?

If any kind of food is “cost prohibitive”, it’s due to USDA overregulation.

[Salvey]

faux Italian eateries

Yep. Most "Italian" restaurants in my area are run by Albanians and their menus are largely identical; it's as though the food comes from a commissary and is distributed among them.

[Sirius Lee]

I live in the state with the best pizza and pizzarias in the world. New Haven style, Sicilian style, central Italy style, Greek style, Cali style...all within a 30 minute drive. Nobody gets chain pizza unless they're retarded.

This is a golden age for pizza. Same for microbrews.

[1217Chic]

We had the best pizza in Yonkers NY.... Palisade Pizza....As far as frozen, Tree Tavern Paterson NJ and Nardone Bros NE PA are both delicious......

[CodeToad]

All the major chains suck. I’d rather eat the box.

When I eat one of those “pizzas” I fell like crap. The chemicals in them are terrible. American “wheat” flour is garbage. We have switched to European flours and pasta.

Even most small pizza shops use low grade ingredients, too.

[newnhdad]

Most of the crap that is referred to as “pizza” is nothing more than adulterated Wonder Bread with ketchup and cellulose cheese.
The search for good NY/NH, Detroit, and Chicago-style pizza continues. They do exist, only not near my new home.

[MayflowerMadam]

Thanks! That’s really good advice. My biggest problem has been to end up with a decent shaped dough. It’s so elastic that it’s hard to work with. Will give that a try next time.

[Chickensoup]

A peel

[Adder]

I like mine with lots of crushed red pepper...:) You may want to try Calabrian chilis bring a great fruity heat...

[Hot Tabasco]

small, independent pizzerias have supplanted a field once dominated by the national chains.

There's more pizza joints around me than there were bars in Hamtramck when I was younger.