Inflation doesn’t hit all ingredients equally (eggs being an example of something that has famously gotten way more expensive recently), and I wonder whether pizza relies on ingredients that haven’t risen in cost as much as some others have.
But I can believe that volume has a lot to do with it. Volume is what makes cheap fast food feasable: you can’t survive on low profit margins unless you have a lot of customers.
For what it’s worth, I haven’t noticed any decline in quality from the Domino’s near me. For cheap pizza, it’s pretty good.
In my opinion, the pan pizza at both Domino’s and Pizza Hut isn’t as good as it used to be. The rest of their pizzas are good as ever, though I think Domino’s sauce is too sweet these days. Little Caesar’s standard pizza is much worse than it was back in the “pizza pizza” days, but the Detroit deep dish is surprisingly good (although extremely greasy). Papa John’s has gone way downhill altogether. Papa Murphy’s is the same as it ever was, except that last time I got a pizza from them the Italian sausage had WAY too much fennel in it and it made the whole pizza taste like black licorice. Mod Pizza was just one location in Seattle about ten years ago until it started franchising and went nationwide, and their stuff tastes exactly the same now as it did when it was just one location.
These days I usually just go to a regional chain called Pizza Time, which is on roughly the same tier as those two, but is easier to get to and back quickly on the bus and which has a large two-topping carryout deal for $9.99.
After Easter I’m gonna have to go pizzaless for six months, so by the time I’m done I imagine that even Little Caesar’s will sound appetizing.
When I worked at Domino’s I recall the manager telling me the cheese was the most expensive ingredient. (By weight, I assume?) If that’s true, has the price of cheese decreased over the decades? Or maybe it’s no longer 100% cheese, and it contains fillers.
I certainly don’t know. But my bet is mostly fake cheese, less costly meat ingredients and fewer ounces per pie, etc. Good bet the crust has gotten subtly thinner as well.
Ref the Subway “footlong” debacle, I wonder if a size “large” at e.g. Dominos is the same diameter as it was when I was 25? Or 55?
If you reduce a 16" diameter pie to 14" you remove ~25% of the area even though it doesn’t look nearly that much smaller. And/or increase the crust border that is bare bread not garnished with expensive sauce, cheese, & toppings.
If I’m reading this graph correctly, don’t think so.
I think they are just taking a smaller margin. Back in the 1980’s labor and food cost penciled out to about 40% of sales. Nobody but the managers made more than minimum wage and the bulk of the drivers’ income was from tips. There was plenty of room to slash margin by increasing volume. Inflation and labor shortages will likely see the end of dirt cheap pizza in the very near future.
According to their website, the sizes they offer are small 10", medium 12", large 14", and extra-large 16". Wikipedia says that up until the early '90s they had 12" and 16" only, so I assume that yesterday’s large is today’s XL.
“Eating at Domino’s” is poor-coded now. At least until the 80s, poor people simply didn’t eat takeout food. Getting any kind of prepared food, let alone getting it delivered, was a luxury until relatively recently.
The effects of this on people’s perceptions of the economy and society is significant - people who were born in the 90s or later honestly think that it’s somehow expected that you should be able to have a burrito delivered to your house and it magically shouldn’t cost any more than what they imagine the “correct” price of a burrito sans delivery to be 10 years ago. Trying to explain to them that anyone who even went to Taco Bell in 1985 was probably at least middle-class is like teaching algebra to a pig.
The $10 Dominos pizza is fine. I think it’s better than the Costco pizza, which is considerably larger for $10. Neither are great by any means, but when I can feed four people for under $30 OTD, and have leftovers enough for several lunches, I’m willing to accept that this is fast food level pizza.
Non-fast food pizzas have gotten much more expensive. The ones that used to be $20 for a large are now $30. That isn’t all new inflation, but probably going back 25 years.
So do I want one $30 pizza that is genuinely good, or several $10 pizzas that are fine? Also take into consideration that the $30 pizza requires using lowest common denominator toppings. When I buy several $10 pizzas, I don’t have to worry if one person won’t eat one of the pizzas.
It’s fine. It’s not amazing but my kid likes them so sometimes we do Dominos over the considerably more expensive local non-chain options. I wouldn’t pick it out of a pizza line-up but I don’t have to make a face and force myself to eat it either. It tastes like chain pizza.
Obviously the main draw is the price but, for around $25 to feed the family after delivery, tax and tip (two medium pizzas), I feel that the taste is still a good value for the price on nights when no one feels like cooking. Easily one of the cheapest options given the cost of the delivery alternatives.
I definitely remember being young and only having pizza on special occasions and it was a HUGE deal to get one and just one. When my parents wanted to eat cheap but also out I believe Taco Bell would have a deal where you could get a dozen tacos for like $5
Actually, it’s the cheese. Cheese on a pizza usually costs just about the same as all the other ingredients combined.
So a small change in the amount of cheese on each pizza can offset most if not all of the inflation on all the other ingredients. You take a hit on quality, but in general, pizzas can take that hit, and still be a decent meal.
I feel pizza places today make their money in the “upcharges”, Dominos has a $7.99 one topping large deal (at least it used too) but then they want $2 each for any additional toppings, and Pizza Hut wants even more like $3 per additional toppings on their $9.99 large special.
When I delivered for Domino’s many years ago, they always pushed 2-liters of soda when they were on the phone with the customer. Perhaps because there was a big markup on them.
