When and Why People Buy Pizza

When and why do people buy pizza? This seems like a pretty straightforward question because, duh, pizza is delicious, and we want it all the time. But the reality is that most people only eat pizza on special occasions or when feeling particularly lazy.

Some special occasions include birthday parties, watching sporting events, office parties, or Friday nights out with the family.

As a pizza restaurant owner, understanding your customer trends and motivations can significantly benefit your business and marketing strategy. 

So why do you think people buy pizza?

Why do People Buy Pizza

The first reason why people buy pizza is obvious. It’s downright delicious! Just thinking about it makes people’s mouths start to water.

In the United States, in just 2021 alone, pizza restaurants made nearly 46 billion dollars in sales. To say people love pizza is an understatement.

But, people love to buy pizza because it’s easy to share, easy to agree upon, and easy to get delivered when no one wants to leave the house. Stopping to pick up a pizza on the way home makes dinner for the family a breeze. 

And pizza sales continue to be on the rise, no matter what’s happening in the economy. People want their za.

When do People Buy the Most Pizza

Understanding when people tend to crave pizza helps with staffing, sure. But have you considered how immensely impactful this could be to your marketing strategy? There are days of the year that are obnoxiously busy, such as Super Bowl Sunday, but targeting specific days and times of the week with your ads can also make a huge difference.

First, let’s talk about which days of the year are statistically the busiest for pizzerias.

Halloween: With Halloween parties and kids out trick or treating, many people don’t have time to cook dinner. Ordering pizza to feed the crowd is a popular solution for busy parents. 

Want to add some spooky fun to your menu? Check out our list of spookiest pizzas!

Thanksgiving Eve: The eve of Thanksgiving is usually filled with cooking and people in the kitchen, but they are all prepping food for the following day. The ovens are filled with pies and turkeys, so ordering pizza is the way to eat this evening.

Super Bowl Sunday: Pizza and wings are the #1 food for football gatherings. The Super Bowl is the most watched game of the year, so it stands to reason that it would be one of the busiest days for pizza sales. 

New Year’s Eve: Another of the busiest days for pizza is New Year’s Eve, when many people gather together worldwide to celebrate. Whenever there are large gatherings of people or lazy evenings at home, pizza sales will soar.

New Year’s Day: After a long evening of partying the night before, New Year’s Day tends to be slightly more sluggish and laid-back. Pizza will be the go-to when people are on PTO and have a day to watch college football bowl games.

As expected, a pizzeria’s busiest days of the year are holidays or days around the holidays. The Super Bowl is basically a holiday in itself if you ask us. Most other sports championships and playoff games will also be big sales days.

Why It’s Important

Most pizza shop owners understand that these holidays and sporting event days will be busier than usual and that they will need more staffing and food prepared. 

But the real strategic benefit is understanding how to market your pizzeria around these events so you aren’t missing out on your market share.

With so many people ordering pizzas on these busy days, you want to make sure to be ramping up your marketing leading up to the event to start gaining attention. People will be placing their orders on the day of special events, but you want to be in their plans the days before.

Tips of Things to Do Leading Up to a Big Event Like the Super Bowl

Be super active on social media leading up to the event. You want your restaurant to be on people’s minds before they even think about ordering pizza. 

Targeted social media ads. Run a few paid advertisements in the weeks leading up to the event. The more your restaurant’s name can be in front of customers’ eyes, the better.

Run some food specials for all of the big days of the year. The deals you offer don’t need to be that grand, but people love to feel like they are getting a discount. Pick something with a low cost from your store and offer it in a package deal with something highly profitable.

Print out some posters for the store windows discussing the specials you are running leading up to the big game. People will often remember what they see in front of them, even subconsciously.

Is a team from your area playing in the game? Brand an item that goes along with the team to give your shop the leading edge over your competitors. (Ex. “The Philly Special” a Philly cheesesteak pizza).

These tips will likely increase your sales but also work to make your community more aware of your brand, which should always be at the top of your to-do list.

Thinking Ahead

Thinking ahead and being able to market your restaurants for big days is an essential strategy to cash-in when people are googling “pizza near me”. All of your competitors are striving to take as much of the pie as possible, make sure you stay ahead of the game.