Add Some Pizzazz to Your Pizza

Posted on January 28 2024

Pepperoni may be the perennial favorite, but such pizza toppings as eggs, kale and butternut squash are on the rise. While consumers remain true to traditional varieties, restaurants are rolling out more premium pie flavors. Take Pizza Hut, for example, which in November added Peruvian cherry peppers, sriracha sauce and a curry crust to the menu.

Chains primarily, but independents as well, are looking to innovate to capture more folks than the just cheese, pepperoni, sausage folks, people know that’s available, so how do you grab the younger demographics, that millennial age group that tends to be more daring when trying new things?”

Two out of three Americans eat pizza every week, with 40% of respondents picking pepperoni on their most recent slice, followed by sausage and meat lovers (both 16%), supreme (15%), cheese (8%) and vegetarian (7%). While the classic varieties are most widely available in restaurants, such toppings as cotto salami, pepper bacon and pancetta are among the fastest growing proteins on pizza.

When we look at sauces and flavorings, what we see out there already are marinara, barbecue, pesto, but some of the highly trending flavors are garlic cream, truffle oil, balsamic glaze, some of toppings that we’re seeing growing faster than traditional toppings are kale, shallots, sage, a lot of fall vegetables like butternut squash, roasted mushrooms.

In terms of cheese, there are more premium cheeses out there like taleggio, burrata, actual Parmesan reggiano. Leaning toward that more upscale type of cheese.

Pizza Hut recently added such toppings as sriracha sauce and Peruvian cherry peppers to the menu.

Nearly half of consumers said the crust is the most important component of a pizza, and 30% are interested in wood-fired or coal-fired styles.

This might indicate that consumers are really leaning toward that more authentic style or understanding that cooking method and technique affect the quality of their pizza, they’re a little more educated in not just that it’s a style but a cooking method that has to be high heat with a certain kind of Italian flour that you just can’t get from any other type of pizza.

The base can make or break a pie for many consumers, who reported dissatisfaction with the quality of crust from take-and-bake and frozen pizzas.

Some of their top frustrations are that the crust is cardboardy or not what they get when they order pizza from a restaurant. From a barrier standpoint from what retail offers, that is one of their top things because when consumers are making it at home, they oftentimes can’t get to the temperature they need it to be to get a really good crust or they’re cooking it in their microwave.

Consumers said generous toppings, more innovative varieties and discounts would drive more retail pizza purchases. On the food service side, coupons and convenient ordering are top incentives.

Papa John's, Domino's and Pizza Hut are all using technology to facilitate easy pizza ordering and keep it top of mind, they’ve done things like integrating pizza ordering into gaming systems and apps.