In some areas, it wasn't uncommon to walk into the local grocery store during the COVID-19 pandemic and see the shelves wiped out of frozen pizza. Consumers want quick and easy meals that also function as comfort food, and the same goes for easy-to-prepare frozen snacks like pizza rolls and pizza bagels, as well as ethnic appetizers like egg rolls.
Hormel Foods, the makers of Hormel Pepperoni, America's No. 1 selling pepperoni brand* and the maker of the Happy Little Plants products, are introducing new Happy Little Plants pepperoni-style topping at select Papa Murphy's locations across the country.
According to Technomic's 2018 Pizza Consumer Trend Report, 83 percent of U.S. consumers eat pizza at least once per month, with 43 percent opting for pizza every week.
Earlier this year, I started to notice Outsiders Pizza Co. products hitting the frozen food case at my local Chicago-area grocery stores. Intrigue arose as I noticed "Detroit Style" emblazoned across the pizza's packaging.
While select brands showed stronger-than-average performances over the past year, the overall frozen pizza category—including frozen pizzas and frozen pizza crusts/dough—has leveled off in sales.
When it comes to pizza, crust is king. According to Technomic, Chicago, the most-popular crusts at limited-service restaurants (LSRs) are thin and crispy.