TOPPINGS
Pizza
toppings What pizza toppings are popular with consumers, and what challenges are being faced by pizza manufacturers such as Stateside Foods in connection with HFSS (high fat salt sugar) legislation? THE MOST POPULAR In advance of the recent National Pizza Day (9 February 2022), analysts from Foodhub, a UK online food ordering platform, crunched over eight million pizza orders placed via their app and website to determine the most popular topping with pepperoni coming out in the top spot. Pizza topped with the spicy Italian American sausage pipped last year’s winner - the Margherita – by accounting for 7.3% of all pizza orders. The classic cheese and tomato took second place (4.5%), with meat feast rounding off the top three (3.8%). Surprisingly perhaps, pizza topped with donner meat maintained its spot in the top five of favourite pizza toppings (2.1%) ordered via their platform, while vegetarian came in at number four (accounting for 2.2% of all pizza orders). Ardian Mula, Foodhub spokesperson said: “We’re a nation of pizza lovers in the UK and nothing beats sharing the classic cheesy Italian dish with family and friends, so toppings often have to appeal to more than one person. “It’s fascinating to see how the nation’s taste has changed compared to last year’s orders - pepperoni trumping the classic Margherita in 2022. Who knows, a vegan option may take the top spot next time crazier things have happened!” 24
REGIONAL INSIGHT Providing some interesting, regional insight into the topic of which pizza topping is the most popular - as well as the age-old question of whether or not pineapple belongs on a pizza - is Parkdean Resorts, who in conjunction with TLF research, crunched their pizza sales numbers from 65 of their restaurants countrywide and married the data up with a nationwide survey to find out which pizza topping is the nation’s favourite broken down by region. Taking the biggest piece of the pie as the nation’s favourite pizza is pepperoni,
they found, and beating ham and pineapple, meat feast and Margherita to the top spot in their survey. With 18% of the votes for pepperoni, the nation has shown that classics never go out of favour. Followed closely by meat feast at 17% and ham and pineapple at 14%, Britain has made their favourites clear, the holiday company feel, but where are the vegan options? With less than 1% of the ‘votes’ for vegan toppings, it is unusual that pizza lovers do not reflect the growing vegan trend in the UK, they suggest. When it comes to pizza, however, it would seem that the UK is a nation of meat lovers, pepperoni having topped their charts for the entire country with Birmingham, Glasgow, Belfast, Norwich
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