by Aaron Allen
Restaurant Consultant, Speaker & Industry Analyst
Aaron Allen & Associates
Pizza technology has been one of the leading segments when it comes to the introduction of tech to restaurants. From online ordering to kitchen automation and pizza delivery with drones, innovation continues to be an essential part of the future of the pizza industry.
Technology is Helping Pizza Chains But Killing Off Independents
In 2016 we published a viral hit on the state of the industry: How Tech is Killing Off Independent Pizzerias. And it’s about more than dough, sauce, quality ingredients, and toppings that make the difference for performance. Here, we’ll take a broader view of how things are shaping up for the global pizza market and some thoughts on where it is likely to head.
A few highlights of our findings:
- In the last decade, independent pizzerias in America have lost 21 percent market share in terms of sales and 19 percent market share in terms of units to chains. Put more plainly, that’s about 7,800 restaurants that have closed-up shop (and that’s before factoring in the impact of COVID-19).
- Digital and online ordering is growing 300 percent faster than dine-in ordering (again, this means billions of dollars in the U.S. alone will shift from dine-in to delivery in the years ahead).
