I work from home and I generally cook most meals after work because the kitchen is just a few feet away. Last my daughter asked why we don’t order pizza any more. I looked at her puzzled.
I hadn’t really thought about when the last time it was that we ordered pizza. After starting my health journey to lose weight, I hadn’t been hungry for pizza or fast food or eating out but I decided to indulge the family so I got online and ordered two 12″ pizzas, some pizza rolls, and cinnamon sticks (for desert) and was shocked to see the bill come to $75 (tip, fees, food included).
Wow! Not too long ago, pizza for 4 was about $30 and I know inflation has been high but this was totally ridiculous, even for me. I doubt I’ll be ordering pizza again, for that kind of money I’ll invest in a wood fired pizza oven and make my own pizzas from now on.
College Pizza Days
I started to wonder how we got here where pizza for three is now $75 delivered. In college, I worked at a couple of different pizza chains. I was a delivery driver, cook, and ultimately a shift manager as I worked my way through school back in the 90’s.
When sales were slow, we would cook a bunch of pizzas and go out and try to sell them for $5. I think we got a commission of $0.25 or $0.50 for each pizza we sold. I rarely ever sold any because in a college town, everyone eats pizza every day and people got tired of eating it all week.
Ironically, the pizza chains used to offer free delivery and there were no service charges. The main additional expense when ordering a pizza was the tip for the driver. There were days I made more money from the tips than the hourly wage but I suspect those days are long gone. I think most pizza chains now use DoorDash, Uber Eats, or some other service to do the delivery for them and it makes perfect sense.
The biggest issue the pizza chains had was liability of a driver hitting or killing someone and there were always issues or close calls. With insurance rates now skyrocketing, it makes me wonder what the future of delivery is going to be and who ultimately holds the liability bag.
Fear Inflation
It’s amazing to me that fast food is now becoming a luxury item and this is why we must all be vigilant about inflation. Just imagine for a moment what pizza may cost 20 years from now. Oh and a 15″ pizza cost $9.99 back then during my college days and now a 12″ pizza is $15 + service charge + delivery fee + tip.
Share The Wealth
What do you think about pizza inflation? Let me know in the comments below!
I usually just pick up pizza now instead of having it delivered. Right now Domino’s has any one-topping pizza for $7.99 for carryout. So, you can still get three pizzas for under $30.
Picking up a huge pizza from Aldi is still about $5-6.
I think that a lot of time individual inflation can be different than overall inflation. If you shop smarter, you might be able to avoid some expenses.
I thought about picking up the pizza but we have a lot of road construction and it would have taken me an hour to go and come back. It was also specialty “mom & pop” pizza over chain since my daughter is very particular about the pizza she eats.
Next time she wants pizza it will be Dominos or grocery store. For $75 I may as well buy my own wood fired pizza oven.