My pizza just arrived, and once again I’m feeling slightly screwed by the fact that my favorite toppings count as two. Brocolli and spinach both count double. Artichoke hearts (which actually I don’t order) count double, which I can sort of understand since they’re kind of uncommon, as does pesto. Chicken (that I don’t get; vegetarian) is the only meat that counts double. The people at the pizza place either can’t or won’t tell me. Makes no sense to me. Anyone from inside the shadowy world of pizza that can fill me in? Is the double-counting topping common practice?
If I may add a related question, why do pizza places always charge for toppings, yet Subway and most other sub places offer them for free? Surely subway is handing out enough free toppings on a daily basis to make a difference…
Pizza places charge for toppings otherwise everyone would load their pizzas up with expensive meats, etc. I worked at a pizza joint for a few years and people would base their pizza on the price - they might want a hamburger, sausage, pepperoni, green pepper, onion, bacon, etc pizza but it costs a lot so they get just sausage, onion and bacon. And anyway, it discourages people from getting a lot, because after about 5 or so, crap starts falling off and the pizza isn’t very good. And also, at least at the place I worked at, the cheese was VERY expensive, so it helps make up some cost.
Subway just bases their prices on what meat (if any) you are getting, then jack it up enough to not piss off people like me that just want meat, cheese and a little mayo, but enough to cover all that lettuce, vinegar and oil, etc everyone else gets. At least that’s my guess.
I’ve been getting broccoli and/or spinach on pizza for a decade or more so I would find it hard to believe that either of them is considered anything new.
Could it just be that broccoli and spinach are just simply more expensive than pepperoni or onion for the pizzeria to use? If they didn’t count it double, they’d have to only use half as much to make the pizza profitable. And customers wouldn’t appreiciate the skimpy helpings.
Possible, but at the price the particular pizza joint charges per topping on the size I ordered they’d have to put two pounds of broccoli on each pizza to be breaking even on the retail price of broccoli from the grocery.
My theory is that you’re ordering rare toppings. Most of the toppings likely are comparable in wholesale cost, but the cost to stock, prepare and store items that a relatively small number of customers order goes up when you’re not getting volume discounts and likely creating a lot of waste in an attempt to maintain freshness. That’s the jist of it.
It is probably because the meat and typical ingredients can be bought in bulk and keep longer than the veggies. Spinich, in particular, doesn’t have a very long life at all and needs to be used fairly quickly. They also don’t sell as much of it, so they don’t get a big discount on the purchase.
Plus, they figure you’d rather die than eat meat and won’t make your own pizza, so they’ve got you by the short ones.
I have had pizza with corn on it. Not much, but it was there. The California Pizza Kitchen “Vegetarian with Japanese Eggplant.” (Also has broccoli. And is yummy.)
What everyone else has been saying. But this kind of itemized cost benefit analysis tends to happen in crappy pizza places, the ones where speed of delivery is more important that quality of product. I avoid national chain franchises with whacked out two-count-as-one policies like that. Go to a real pizza joint, a decent family owned place that’s been around a few decades with no more than three other franchises in the same city and get quality toppings at a decent price.
I’m with Askia in theory. The best pizza I’ve had recently was a crispy-crusted sausage & broccolini pizza with mozerella, parmesian and goat cheese. Yummy! But it was $12 for an 8-inch pizza and I had to dress up and go to a restaurant for it.
But for sitting around in my sweats or feeding the whole family, give me the gooey, greasy goodness of the cheap chain places that deliver. I’ll get the broccoli when I’m making it count.
