Posted on 01/05/2026 6:44:58 PM PST by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Like minds, FRiend ;-) Well worth the time & effort. Pizza was my Christmas gift to family this year. Very, very happy family.
Agree. My ancestry is Italian on both sides of the family. I grew up in an upstate NY city that had a large Italian-American population. There were Mom and Pop pizza shops and restaurants (all with Italian names) that got it right. I’ve also enjoyed pizza in Italy.
To the point, I know what good pizza tastes like, and these large pizza chains FAIL horribly at it. I assume it’s economics- cheap ingredients, dough that tastes like the cardboard box, 55 gallon drums of some red fluid consisting of a small percentage of actual tomatoes, thrown together by someone who DGAS about what it tastes like because it’s just a job and Grandpa’s name isn’t on the sign out front.
There are some rare Mom & Pop pizza shops / Italian restaurants that still can make a good pizza. Find them, support them, talk to the owner and let them know why you’re a repeat customer. It’s worth it.
As an exception to the assembly line crap from large pizza chains, I would recommend without any reservation a chain operating in Florida, Georgia, and Texas called ‘Mister 01 Extraordinary Pizza’. Had one with sliced prosciutto, mozzarella, sauce, thin crust…. Molto Bene. Have family from NY visiting next week and will be taking them there.
Tell me about it. I do my own recipes now.
If you can find it, try Peruvian.
I tried it once on my charcoal grill (with real charcoal, not briquettes) but bang of taste from the extra buck of time and energy didn’t justify it...
I will try it again.
I’m sensing a variation on Demolition Man’s ‘franchise wars’ as inevitable for corporate ‘pizza’. /s
bump
I read somewhere that the European release of the movie had Pizza Hut and not Taco Bell as the winner of the franchise wars.
Sandy Bullock was a cutie back then tho.
Lost me right there. If I want pizza, I'll find a hole-in-the-wall bar and grill run by Italians. If I want rogan josh, I'll call Ravi.
The shift to non-animal protein in sausage was the final straw for me.
I don’t consume rat turd sausage.
If it’s not real Italian sausage, IT AIN’T PIZZA!!!
Jokes aside - ahem, only in part - when I endeavored to get my health back, I wrote a recipe for a pizza to replace the garlic chicken pizza at Papa Murphy’s which I once adored as a variation of my pizza tastes (they now use ingredients I won’t consume).
The result was a stellar pie loved by all who’ve had the pleasure to sample it: Smoked chicken, yellow bell pepper, orange bell pepper, onion, my own garlic cream sauce, Shitake mushrooms and a basil crust (with 2lbs of mozzarella garnished with Pecorino Romano, of course).
It’s my ONLY variation on pizza from the basic red sauce.
It is easier and less expensive. to make home made pizza at home now.
What is “the peel” referenced in the early steps?
“Ravi Thanawala” Gee, I wonder if that has anything to do with at their company’s issue...
For good reason:
“There simply were no Taco Bell restaurants in Europe when the film first opened in 1993.”
https://www.cbr.com/demolition-man-taco-ball-pizza-hut-switch/
That sounds so delicious!
Too much bread...unhealthy flour.
“‘Mister 01 Extraordinary Pizza’”
Such chains exist in every corner of the country, but holy cow they are hard to find.
The only decent Italian restaurant is in another state.
THAT’s what democrats have done to this country! /s
One local joint has been serving pizza since the 70s and you literally time-warp when walking inside: Lots of wood, giant pizza ovens (probably original), old games (and pinball), the works. It would never win against an Italian pie, but their American version is the best pie in the state!
(and that’s my pathetic footnote on pizza here; I & the guys at work all go there every couple of months - pies are just shy of $50ea - but mine are better...and the guys agree ;=))
“It is easier and less expensive. to make home made pizza at home now.”
I’ve used frozen dough like Rhodes or Bridgford to make pizza at home.
Thin crust, ancient grains. Pizza CAN be healthy.
Hearkens my comment about ‘choices’...but it has to be made at home.
FReepers know everything.
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