Pizza, once a staple of America’s fast-food landscape, seems to be losing its former glory.
This beloved dish, whether it’s a classic New York slice, a hearty Chicago deep-dish, a unique Detroit-style, or a crisp California thin-crust, has been a part of American life since Italian immigrants introduced it in the late 19th century.
For years, pizza was omnipresent at school lunches, birthday celebrations, sports gatherings, late-night cravings, and family meals.
However, it appears that Americans are now distancing themselves from this traditionally cherished pie.
The trend is becoming more apparent as several mid-sized pizza chains, including Blaze Pizza, Pieology Pizzeria, Bertucci’s Brick Oven Pizza & Pasta, and MOD Pizza, have either shuttered, downsized, or declared bankruptcy in the past couple of years.
Simultaneously, major players like Pizza Hut and Papa John’s are inching towards being offloaded by their parent companies as they grapple with declining sales.
California Pizza Kitchen, a chain which once operated 180 restaurants, was sold in December to a group of investors for less than $300 million — well below the $470 million valuation it fetched in 2011 when the chain was taken private.
Industry data confirms this decline, indicating that pizzerias are now outnumbered by coffee shops and Mexican food restaurants.
For decades, Pizza was unwaveringly everywhere in the US, but now parlors across the country are shutting down
MOD Pizza is one of the many chains that has faced significant challenges, leading to major restructuring: it closed dozens of underperforming stores in 2024
‘Pizza is disrupted right now,’ Ravi Thanawala, chief financial officer and North America president at Papa John’s International, told the Wall Street Journal. ‘That’s what the consumer tells us.’
One major reason is choice. Food delivery apps like DoorDash and Uber Eats now give Americans access to a vast range of cuisines with a few taps on their phone.
The convenience that once made pizza king — fast delivery and easy sharing — is no longer unique.
Now, every fast food chain from Chick-Fil-A, consistently ranked America’s favorite, to McDonald’s can be delivered quickly.
Plus, in today’s economy, price is also playing a growing role. The average cost of a basic pizza now sits around $17, a figure that can feel steep compared to cheaper fast food alternatives such as burgers, which average about $8, or burritos, which cost closer to $13.
Those options are also more practical for solo diners, who may not want leftover slices sitting in their fridge for days.
In New York City, the changing economics of pizza have become symbolic.
For decades, the price of a slice tracked the cost of a subway fare — a phenomenon dubbed the ‘pizza principle’ in the 1980s.
Pizza was once the quintessential dish for birthday parties, sports events, late-night food, family dinners, and school lunches (pictured: diners at Shakey’s Pizza)
Pizza been intertwined with American culture ever since Italian immigrants and their cuisine arrived in the late 1800s (pictured: workers at Shakey’s Pizza, which was founded in 1954)
That unwritten rule broke in 2022, when the average slice of cheese pizza rose to $3.14, overtaking the then-subway fare of $2.75. Today, with the MTA fare now at $3, the average slice has climbed even higher, to around $3.71.
Joe’s Pizza, one of New York’s most iconic parlors, raised its slice price price 45 percent in just over a decade — from $2.75 in 2014 to over $4 today.
Despite rising costs, make no mistake — Americans still eat a lot of pizza.
Pizza chains generated $31 billion in sales in 2024, according to Technomic, and the Agriculture Department found that one in every 10 Americans eat a slice on any given day.
What is clear, however, is that pizza’s fast food dominance is fading.
Once the second most popular type of restaurant chain, the cuisine slipped down to sixth place in 2024.
After peaking in 2019, the amount of pizza restaurants has also drastically diminished.
At the same time, coffee shops have multiplied rapidly across the US, while Mexican food restaurants have expanded year after year.
Coffee shops are on the rise because they offer morning to evening options, while pizza parlors are largely lunch and dinner spots.
While pizza parlors are disappearing, the number of coffee shops in America has skyrocketed
Joe’s Pizza, one of New York’s most iconic parlors, bumped its price up a whopping 45 percent in just over a decade (pictured: Kim Kardashian enjoying a slice of Joe’s Pizza)
Cafes are also more likely to be used as a social gathering spot, as items are smaller and cheaper and it’s usually acceptable to hang around longer — whether it be to work or chat.
Mexican food, meanwhile, offers a level of versatility pizza struggles to match. It can be upscale or casual, eaten in or taken out, and comes in a wide range of formats — from burritos and bowls to tacos, salads and soups.
There’s only so much you can do with a pizza.
As many Americans pivot towards a healthier lifestyle — especially with the rise of GLP-1 medications such as Ozempic, Mexican food is also easily customizable to become macro friendly or meet dietary restrictions.
