National Pizza Day is February 9th! Pizza is the second most popular food in America after the Hamburger. Detroit has had a huge hand in popularizing pizza. Two of the largest pizza chains have their roots in metro Detroit. Domino’s Pizza (DPZ) was started in Ypsilanti, MI, and is HQ’d in Ann Arbor. Little Caesars started in Garden City, MI, and its HQ is in Detroit. In ‘Q4 of 2021 42 % of sales among major pizza chains went to Domino’s. Little Caesars earned 13 percent of U.S. sales among the pizza chains in ‘Q421. Globally pizza sales in 2022 were $141.1 billion.
Pizza’s origin story
The origins of pizza are lost in antiquity. Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans had flatbreads topped with oils, herbs, figs, cheese, and even meats. Pizza that we would recognize appeared in Naples during the 16th century as street food for the poor. It was not until approx. 1552 when the Spanish brought the tomato to Europe from the Americas that the modern pizza was invented. The biggest leap in the evolution of Pizza occurred with the unification of Italy in 1861.
Tradition says that in 1889 King Umberto I and Queen Margherita had grown bored with their French diet and wanted to try some pizzas from Naples’ Pizzeria Brandi pizzeria. The Queen enjoyed a pizza made to resemble the Italian flag with white mozzarella cheese, red tomatoes, and green basil for toppings. Since then, this pizza was also called the Margherita pizza after the Queen.
Even with a royal fan like the Queen, Pizza would remain non-existent beyond Italy’s borders until WWII. With the growing number of Italians immigrating to the U.S. for jobs, and WWII vets who severed in Italy pizza’s popularity took off. Troops stationed in Italy in the 1940s would eat pizza and upon their return home seek out the pies, increasing demand in the U.S. to rank second behind hamburgers and the most popular food in America.
Important dates in U.S. Pizza history
1904 – The first printed reference to “pizza” served in the U.S. is in an article in The Boston Journal.
1905 – The first pizzeria in the U.S., Lombardi’s, opened in New York City.
1943 – Pizzeria Uno in Chicago probably invents the deep dish pizza.
1945 – A WWII veteran who had been stationed in Italy, Ira Nevin built the first gas-fired Bakers Pride pizza oven sparking the commercialization of pizza.
1946 – Detroit Pizza was developed at Buddy’s Rendezvous, a former speakeasy located at the corner of Six Mile Road and Conant Street in Detroit.
1957 – Frozen pizza was introduced in Newark, NJ by the Celentano brothers who owned an Italian specialty store.
1958 – Pizza Hut, was founded in Wichita, Kansas.
1959 – Little Caesars, founded at 32594 Cherry Hill Road, Garden City, Michigan. It’s 2 ½ miles from the original Kmart.
1960 – Domino’s started out at 507 West Cross St. Ypsilanti, Michigan.
1962 – Controversial “Hawaiian” pizza, a pizza topped with pineapple and ham, was invented in Canada by Sam Panopoulos at the Satellite Restaurant in Chatham, Ontario.
1974 – The first pizza was ordered via a computer from Mr. Mike’s in East Lansing, MI. The large pepperoni, mushroom, ham, and sausage order required a CDC 6500 mainframe computer to complete.
1994 – The first pizza is ordered online. The large pepperoni, mushroom, and extra cheese pizza was ordered on “PizzaNet” – Pizza Hut‘s digital ordering hub developed by the Santa Cruz Operation (aka SCO).
Interesting Facts About Pizza
Here are some interesting facts surrounding National Pizza Day!
• Over 3 Billion pizzas are sold in the U.S. each year.
• Every second 350 slices of pizza are sold in the U.S.
• Americans consume over 23 pounds of pizza per year.
• Pepperoni pizza is the most popular, preferred by 36% of the people.
• Americans consume 251.7 million pounds of pepperoni each year, mostly on pizza.
• 30% of Americans have pizza at least once a week.
• 19% of people love to pair their pizza with a beer.
• 10 percent say they like to pair wine with pizza.
• More pizzas are sold on Super Bowl Sunday, than any other day of the year.
• Halloween is the second most popular day for eating pizzas.
Pizza is so great that it has more holidays
• March 14th – National Pi Day
• April 5th – National Deep Dish Pizza Day
• May 15th – National Pizza Party Day
• June 11th – Pizza Margherita Day
• September 5th – National Cheese Pizza Day
• September 20th – National Pepperoni Pizza Day
• October National Pizza Month
• October 9th – International Beer & Pizza Day
• October 11th – National Sausage Pizza Day
• November 12th – National Pizza with the Works except Anchovies Day
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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
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