Toppings gouging

I was just kvetching over at the forum covering Fast-Food franchises, somebody asked "What's the WORST major chain?". Lots of votes for the usual suspects, burger-wise, but LOTS of people who really hate Domino's and Pizza Hut. I only order Domino's once in a while, thin crust, and inhale it NOW, because it's no good later. Domino's will deliver to me in downtown LA, and the "2+2+2" deal is not overpriced, two pizzas, each with two toppings, and a 2 liter Coke. But I only do that if I'm too lazy to drive elsewhere. We have a new crop of MUCH better pizza operations in downtown, just in the last two or three years, places with more exotic toppings. Wild mushrooms, fancier cheeses, basil, etc.
Of course, many people regard Subway as the worst major chain, but I would point out that at least while you are standing there, you can tell them just what you want, and the selection is usually not too bad, sometimes they even have baby spinach, stuff like that. Anyway, what's good about that setup is they don't start nickel & diming you to death, like almost any pizza parlor will. Now, I can understand if you want to start piling on expensive stuff like anchovies, or any meats, or ****ake mushrooms, they will have to charge for that, but what kills me is when they want a dollar for a bit of black olive, another dollar for bell pepper, onion, plain mushrooms, you name it, they want another buck for stuff that is clearly almost free to them. A ten dollar pie can easily rocket to fourteen or more (some places want $1.50 for a little chopped jalapeno!) Am I right? Oh, and get this: Domino's does not even offer garlic!
What do others out there think about this?
-Scott Lindgren scottlindgren@netzero.net

The last time I bought from Domino's was 25 years ago when I ordered and paid for extra cheese and the pizza came with less cheese than other places use as a normal topping. I had no reason to go back.

I had similar thoughts on toppings. I ordered from a place that stopped charging after so many toppings (3, I think). As more different toppings are added, less of each topping is used, so adding another doesn't cost them any more. A sliding scale would make sense as more toppings are added.

There was a great discussion about this very topic here last year. It even included a few posts by persons who used to worked in pizzerias:
http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=19161

Some people offered ideas on how to control costs.

Wow. That link from David_NYC is a hot one. I understand both sides of the technical arguments. The buyer wants what he's paying for! He does not care if it's a big 5lb pie. The seller THINKS he's making an appropriate adjustment for the quantity of items. But that whole argument on both sides revolves around quantities. Of course, there is the insanity of the seller telling you that the more items you pay full price for, the less of each you will get! That is a tough one for the seller to justify. Usually, in a normal business environment, which pizza evidently is not, the buyer gets a volume discount. Which only gets bigger and bigger the more you buy. Not in the pizza world.
Now, I'm not opposed really to the idea (for my pie) of a little less of each item, what frosts me is when I just want a little of each flavor, yet I'm getting charged full-bore (and somebody mentioned $2.50 for plain old onion, not Maui) for even a hint of anything. At that $2.50 price, well, let's see what MY pie would be:
Medium pizza........... $12.00
Pepperoni.............. 2.50
Black Olive............ 2.50
Red Onion.............. 2.50
Jalapeno............... 2.50
Sausage................ 2.50
Mushroom............... 2.50
INVOICE TOTAL.......... $27.00

A $12 pie (already criminally priced) becomes $27.00

$2.50 is of course unusually steep, but you get the point. I really think I need to get into that whole cook at home deal with the stone.
Never mind the savings in gasoline to pick up, or the tip on a $27 pie. A MEDIUM pie. Woof. Somebody did say there was a place that stopped charging after three items. That makes sense, as long as the seller is not already marking up the basic pie absurdly. I'm not sure there is a more profitable food service business out there. Maybe Chinese food. Maybe Mexican food. I don't know. They are probably all three pretty close.

-Scott Lindgren scottlindgren@netzero.net

Pizza costs are a tough one.. I believe what it all comes down to is the ease of creating a menu, and the end user (customer) paying in the end. In a perfect customer world, prices would be categorized by their initial costs (same as a chef would use for cost control and pricing when developing a menu). Onions cost pennies an ounce, yet Italian Sausage, that has to be cooked by the staff is far higher (food and labor costs here come into play). Yet a banana pepper from a jar is in between those two, then the ever changing market price of cheese (and cheese prices fluctuate worse then gas prices). Plus the type of shrooms you use, if they're canned, pretty much a fixed price, yet fresh ones will vary with the market (and again, there's additional labor involved in slicing them, not to mention their shelf life)... Then nobody takes into thought of the cost of gas to fire the ovens, or the crazy insurance rates these shops have to pay.. So many variables..
www.pizzatoday.com

For a Cheap but good Pizza, I buy Tombstone Frozen Pizzas. MUCH better that Dominoes, Pizza Hut, Little Caesars etc

quote:

Originally posted by Foodbme

For a Cheap but good Pizza, I buy Tombstone Frozen Pizzas. MUCH better that Dominoes, Pizza Hut, Little Caesars etc

Tombstone was good until they messed with the sauce recipe. But even so, you're right, much better then the others you mentioned above.. (But you have to love how Little Sleazers must use a paper towel to mop on the sauce and cheese... Doubt it could get any thinner even if you tried.. Those 2 toppings soak right into the bread, or crust as they call it)..

Bottom line...almost any frozen pizza is less offensive than any chain pizza....they don't deserve the name "pizza"
leethebard

quote:

Originally posted by leethebard

Bottom line...almost any frozen pizza is less offensive than any chain pizza....they don't deserve the name "pizza"
leethebard

Everyone is entitled to their opinion and, in my opinion, the above statement is bs. pb

Sometimes I think it is amazing that pizza parlors can keep the price down as much as they do and frozen pizzas seem like a super bargain when you can feed two for $4.25. I'm making an Alaskan reindeer sausage pizza tomorrow with sausage received as a Christmas gift and dough ingredients already in hand yet I went to the grocery and spent another $14.15 for more potential ingredients. My raw cost may approach $20 for a 14" pie. Add labor and overhead cost and I would have to sell that pizza for more than $40. That's why I am not in the business.

Davy, from start to finish, at retail (going to the store picking up what I need) runs me 10 bucks for a pie. 3 people can attack it, and there will be leftovers (I make 16 inch pies here at home). Still a tad bit more then your take out food costs, but yet so much better and filling!