How big is Pizza Business?

Have you ever thought about opening a pizza parlor or a small pizza outlet in your neighborhood? Have you ever tried to estimate the annual pizza sales in America? If you are a budding entrepreneur who wants to take on the food industry then Pizza Business can prove to be a gold mine for you.

By the time you finish reading this post; Americans have consumed 105,000 slices of their favorite Pizza.

For Small Business Owners Pizza is a low-risk high return business due to its high demand among consumers, simple ingredients and low investments when setting up a small pizza shop. Also, it requires very little experience compared to other specialty cuisines restaurants so Pizza becomes an obvious choice for food entrepreneurs.

You must be wondering how big is Pizza business in America?

Well, if you look at the numbers Pizza is a US $30 billion per year industry and so the market size is huge. In terms of consumption Americans eat 100 acres of Pizza each day and that’s approx. 350 slices every second.

American’s love their Pizza and it’s their favorite fast food as an average American eats approx.23 pounds of pizza a year. Every year approx. 3 billion Pizzas are sold in America so that’s again a huge number.

There are approx. 62,000 Pizzerias in America that includes both large pizza chains, medium and small pizza shops.

Taking the above numbers into account it is easy to say that Pizza is a huge business and profitable if managed well. 94% of Americans eat pizza regularly. Italian is the most loved ethnic food in America.

Super Bowl week is the busiest for pizza outlets in terms of sales as Americans consume more pizza during super bowl compared to any other event or holiday.

Let’s have a look at some more interesting facts about Pizza Business in America:

We all know Pizza Hut but how many of you know that it is the largest Pizza chain with over 13,500 dine-in, delivery and takeout outlets that generate approx. US $7.7 billion a year in sales while Domino’s is the undisputed global leader in delivery with total revenues in excess of $2.5 billion. The fastest growing pizza franchisee in America is the Marco’s Pizza.

On an average a single pizza outlet uses approx. 55 boxes per day and pepperoni is the most loved pizza topping among American consumers. 36% of all pizza orders have pepperoni as topping. Americans consume 251,770,000 pounds of pepperoni per year.

62% of all pizza lovers in America prefer mean toppings while 38% prefer vegetarian toppings. Women are twice as likely as men to order vegetarian pizza.

Kids in the age range of 3 to 11 years prefer pizza for lunch and dinner over any other food.

In America the month of October is the National Pizza Month.

Are you wondering how much is start up cost for starting your pizza business?

Before we get into startup costs and which model is better a franchise or an independent pizza outlet, let’s first look at the margins that pizza business has to offer.

Well, there’s no hard and fast rule to calculate the startup costs but there are things that you have to keep in mind always such as kitchen equipment, rent (if you don’t already have a property) and other over heads that are involved in every business.

We have tried to do some calculations for you so that you can have some idea about the margins in a pizza business. However, the profits depend on your sales, unit costs and overheads that eat up a part of your margins.

If you look at the basic pizza the main ingredient is the cheese and it is also the most expensive among all other ingredients such as flour, sauce and toppings.

A medium size pizza has cheese in it of approx. $2, dough costs approx. $0.25 and sauce costs around $0.40 that adds to a total of $2.65 and it is normally sold at twice that amount which is $5.30. You can expect a profit of $1.06 to $1.50 depending on your overheads costs, rent and your staffs’ salaries.

If you have enough money to spend on a franchise of an already well recognized pizza brand then you don’t have to put in much efforts to establish your pizza business as every brand has its own loyal customers and they would start ordering as soon as they know there’s a new outlet in the neighborhood of their favorite pizza brand.

Also, the pizza brand will help you with marketing and sales. However, there are limitations that come with a franchise such as you cannot decide on prices and you cannot introduce or experiment with the menu.

While starting an independent pizza outlet doesn’t have any restrictions as you can decide your menu, introduce new items whenever you want and decide prices. For marketing and sales you have to put in your efforts compared to a franchise and it may take you more time to build a loyal customer base.

Food business is all about taste and quality. If you offer the best quality ingredients in your pizzas with a great taste then it won’t take you much time to build a profitable business.

Conclusion

Considering the annual sales of Pizzas and the total number of pizzerias across America, Pizza remains the second most loved fast food item among Americans after burgers and so the opportunities to grow as an independent pizza outlet are huge.

Always keep in mind that consumers are ready to pay more for the food that they love if it has great taste, made with quality ingredients and hygienically prepared. Starting your own pizza shop is a safe option compared to any other business if you already do not have much experience in running a small business.

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