Trend of the week: Passion for Pizza
Andrew Wardlaw
09 Feb, 2022 | 1 minute
More than ever, people are looking to experiment with something different to eat and to travel via their taste buds. Pizza offers an affordable way to do it.
Different pizza styles are in vogue, with WGSN tracking the growing popularity of regional styles, such as Detroit-style (thin-crust and coal-fired).
Meanwhile, official Naples-style pizza – floppy, foot-wide, saucy pizzas strictly made with Italian ingredients and featuring chewy, billowing crust edges – is growing in appeal worldwide. Eaters are seeking signs of authentication that are official or obvious from affiliation with expert chefs.
Consumers prize pizza’s value and reliability as well as how it can comfort (especially now), gather, nourish and transport us. Help them do it with products that are both familiar and exciting. Here are a few recent launches that take the passion for pizza to another level.
WHITE RABBIT (U.S / Europe)
Born in Oxfordshire, White Rabbit caters for increasing demand for Free From and Vegan versions of Pizza. New formats are eating into the lunchtime occasion, like this new Sundried Tomato Focaccine.
CAPPELLO’S (U.S)
Meet and eat the world’s first grain-free white pizza. Its ‘Nightshade’ (tomato) free! Melty layers of buttery whole milk mozzarella and white cheddar cheese, topped with fresh spinach and caramelized onions resting on a bed of creamy, cheesy, garlicky white sauce.
AOKI’S HALLOWEEN CARNIVAL PIZZA (JAPAN)
To infiltrate Halloween, AOKI made this special edition pizza in 2021, featuring sausage "fingers", fried chicken (hand, arm), bacon (bandage), fresh basil (dead leaves), mozzarella and hash brown potatoes.
LA MORRA PIZZA (U.S)
In recent years, clear packaging of quality pizza has been a successful marketing strategy. La Morra's frozen options include a collaboration with local sandwichery wax paper on a hot sauce finished toasted sesame sourdough crust.
PIZZA VENDING
Pizza vending was growing around Europe before the pandemic because of their increasing ability to create high-quality food in very small footprints. But ever since COVID-19 crashed all over the world, we are paying even closer attention to vending machines because they eliminate person-to-person contact when buying a meal. There are a number of cool vending machines out there making great food: now you can add Smart Pizza machines, which, as you can probably guess, deliver hot pizza into your paws in under three minutes.
GO BIG OR GO HOME
And for the ultimate ‘world pizza’, try this $80 giant at https://www.tonyboloneys.com/
The limit of what's too much may have been set, with this taco pizza featuring three tacos per slice.
Call an ambulance.
If you'd like to find out more about what else is happening in the world of pizza, or any other emerging trends, get in touch.
In collaboration with WGSN and thefoodpeople.