Traffic Trends: Pizza Slice by Slice

Pizza chains build most of their pies in the evening and on the weekend.

By Mary Boltz Chapman, Editor-in-Chief -- Chain Leader, 2/1/2007

National pizza chains receive 17.5 percent of all QSR occasions, according to Quick-Track, a quarterly survey by San Clemente, Calif.-based research firm Sandelman & Associates. But 21-quarter averages show they garner 29.3 percent of dinner occasions, 28.4 percent of carryout occasions and 83.9 percent of delivery occasions.

• 41.1 percent of fast-food customers ordering pizza on their last occasion used carryout; 37.2 percent, delivery; and 18.1 percent, eat-in. Of all users’ last occasions, 31.2 percent were carryout; 11.4 percent, delivery; and 27.5 percent, eat-in.
• Fully 44.0 percent of those who had pizza used a special deal (vs. 21.3 percent of all users), according to a 21-quarter average. Of those, 38.2 percent learned about the deal from direct-mail fliers, 25.4 percent from newspapers, 16.8 percent from signs at the restaurant, and 11.6 percent from television.
• QSR customers having pizza on their last occasion were most likely to do so at dinner: 79.4 percent did. In comparison, a 21-quarter average shows that 49.5 percent of QSR users’ last occasions were dinner.
• 55.1 percent of fast-food users who ordered pizza on their last occasion did so on Friday, Saturday or Sunday; 45.7 percent of all users’ last occasions was on the weekend.
• The average amount spent per person is larger for fast-food users having pizza on their most recent occasion: $5.36 vs. $4.82 for all users’ last occasions. The average check per party is also higher ($20.44 vs. $13.36), as is the number of diners per party (3.8 vs. 2.8).
• While 26.9 percent of all users were alone on their most recent occasion, only 9.5 percent of those who ordered pizza were, as they were more likely to be with their spouse (46.2 percent), kids (38.1 percent) or friends (21.4 percent).