5 Trends in the Pizza Industry to Watch For in 2022

5 Trends in the Pizza Industry to Watch For in 2022

As a pizzeria owner, you wear a lot of hats. With your hands busy in the day-to-day running of the business, you may not have time to keep up with the latest trends in the pizza industry trends. But competition is fierce, and customers have choices. Fall behind the most important trends, and your customers might take their business elsewhere.

To avoid that, we are sharing five trends in the pizza industry you need to watch for in 2022. We’ve divided these trends into the specific areas of product, service, hiring, technology, and sales.?

Here’s everything you need to know!

1. Pizza Industry Product Trends

While a pepperoni pie will always be a timeless classic, there is a growing desire for personalization and customization in the pizza industry. People want options that appeal to their unique tastes, whatever those tastes may be. Some customization trends include:?

• An expansion of pizza crust options, including healthier options like cauliflower crust, flourless crust, and gluten-free crust, as well as a new crust on the scenes—focaccia dough.
• A range of sauce options beyond the traditional tomato-based sauce, including alfredo, barbecue, pesto, and others.
• An explosion of toppings, including everything from pickles to pumpkin, and combinations like buffalo chicken, taco, Rueben, and mac & cheese.
• A growing interest in healthier options.

Regarding that last point, one trend to watch right now is the growth in vegan options, which have surged?187 percent ?on menus in the last three years.?

Meat substitute brands like Beyond Burger and Impossible Foods have infiltrated fast-food brands, and they are?coming for the pizza industry, too , as more and more customers demand plant-based options.

2. Pizza Industry Service Trends

The hottest trend regarding service is the demand for delivery, which has skyrocketed due to the coronavirus pandemic. According to?one expert , “COVID-19 has accelerated the growth of the delivery space [by] several years. Both customers and merchants that were reluctant [about] delivery are now accustomed to it. This behavior will likely continue even after COVID-19.”?

Because of the increasing demand for delivery, there has been a growth in delivery options. Not only are there many new food delivery providers to partner with, Grubhub, DoorDash, and Uber Eats; some visionaries believe in the future, pizza will be delivered by drones or autonomous vehicles.?

For pizzeria owners who offer in-house delivery services, PMQ Pizza Magazine provides these?words of advice: ?“Delivery innovation and growth is on the rise, so it’s critical for pizza restaurants to invest in cutting-edge delivery management tech so they can prepare for these evolving demands.”

The first place to look? Your delivery ordering system, including your website, app, and?phone service . Many customers are using digital platforms to place orders. However, handling call-in orders is an essential aspect of the customer experience that cannot be overlooked. Are your customers encountering busy signals or long hold times? Maybe it’s time to consider switching to a cloud ordering system, which can scale up and down as surges in demand occur. For example,??Pizza Phones powered by Clarity ?offers unlimited cloud-based phone lines so you’ll never lose a sale again due to a busy signal, missed call, or long hold times.?

3. Pizza Industry Hiring Trends

In a?recent survey ?by the National Restaurant Association, 75 percent of operators said that recruiting and retaining employees was their top challenge. Unfortunately, this trend will likely continue in 2022.

Experts suggest that restaurant owners “innovate to create a better work environment and work flexibility” to overcome this challenge. To attract and retain talent, pizzeria owners will have to address workers’ needs, not simply increase their wages. For example, employees want promotion opportunities, paid time off, health benefits, and more flexible schedules. In addition, employees want better work environments and company culture.?

Pizzeria owners worried about the labor crisis should work towards building a culture of positivity in the business and look for ways to build team unity. Additionally, you’ll need to get creative with ways to meet employees’ needs so you can attract and retain more valuable employees.?

One pizza industry trend that addresses the labor crisis is the growing use of phone order centers to service many locations. Such order centers can be structured in-house (where a group of locations share an order center) or can be outsourced (where a third-party hosts a contact center to take calls for a single pizza restaurant or an entire chain).

4. Pizza Industry Technology Trends

The robots are coming to the pizza industry! At least that’s what?the experts are telling us .?

Partly fueled by the shortage of workers, there is a rise in tech innovation impacting pizza businesses. Of course, we have already mentioned technology related to delivery, including drones and autonomous vehicles. However, new technologies are also being put to use in the kitchen.

One such example is the xPizza Cube, which reportedly can prep up to 300 pizzas per hour, including sauce, cheese, and pepperoni. With the “Robotics-as-a-Service” (RaaS) subscription model, pizzeria operators can pay $1,500 per month to rent a Cube bot.?

Similarly, the Picnic Pizza System, which costs between $3500 – $5000 per month, helps operators make up to 100 pizzas per hour. In addition, companies like PizzaForno and Let’s Pizza have completely automated the pizza-making process by introducing?pizza vending machines .

Of course, for most pizzeria owners, the art of making pizza pies will remain a human enterprise. However, it’s beneficial to keep these tech trends in mind to understand that competition grows fiercer every day.?

5. Pizza Industry Sales Trends

One last pizza industry trend to watch is improving sales and customer service technology. According to?PMQ Pizza Magazine , “A trend to keep on the forefront of your radar is how restaurant technology is evolving from the limited capacity of older POS systems to more comprehensive restaurant management systems that go far beyond the point of sale.” In addition to better features, these days more POS systems are offering a cloud version, which means less equipment needed in the store, and greater efficiency and flexibility for your team.

Updating your POS system can benefit your pizzeria because you can:?

• Adequately track and store all customer data in one hub.
• Create and run a digital reward system.
• Provide a seamless customer experience, making the customer feel like a VIP.

To update sales-related technology, many pizzeria owners are also turning to Voice Over IP systems (VoIP) to improve the experience for customers who phone in their order. For example, the?PizzaPhone VoIP ?connects to your POS and offers unlimited phone lines, 99.99% availability (even if the internet or electricity goes down), and the ability to record advertisements and upsell messages while callers are on hold. Not sure how it works??Schedule a demo to find out.

Pizzeria owners should keep these pizza industry trends in mind as they plan their business in the months to come. In a nutshell, all these trends come down to better serving people—both your employees and your customers. After all, without the support of employees and customers, no business can survive. So, focus on keeping people happy, and you are sure to bring in more dough.?

Which of these pizza industry trends are you most likely to pursue in 2022? Let us know in the comments!