America is divided on frozen pizza: Analysis
(NEXSTAR) – When Americans give up on making dinner and settle for a frozen pizza, which types of frozen pizza do they most often settle for?
It might depend on where they’re located.
A new analysis from Instacart suggests that America is a nation divided by its favored frozen-pizza varieties. The findings, as determined by Instacart’s recent online-ordering data, appear to indicate that varieties like pepperoni, supreme and even veggie pizza have their own little strongholds over certain sections of the country.
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It’s important to note, however, that Instacart’s analysis doesn’t indicate which pizza varieties are the top-selling in each state, but rather which varieties each state’s customers are ordering at the highest rate over the national average. (When considering sales volume alone, an Instacart analyst confirmed with NewsNation’s Nexstar that the actual top-selling pizza varieties, in each state, were either pepperoni or cheese across the board, with nearly 40% of Instacart’s frozen-pizza purchasers choosing the former and just over 24% choosing the latter.)
Still, the results offer a fun glimpse into the country’s regional frozen-pizza preferences. For instance, veggies appear to be more popular in the West, while customers in the Midwest aren’t likely to consider anything that isn’t covered in meat. Meanwhile, it’s anyone’s guess as to what Colorado is trying to prove.
When it comes to sheer volume of sales, though, one state has all the others beat: Wisconsin is the nation’s leader in frozen-pizza purchases on Instacart, followed by North Dakota, Iowa, Missouri and Minnesota.
It’s also quite possible Wisconsin leads the country in per-capita consumption overall, according to executives within the industry. Chris Zelch, of Nestle’s frozen pizzas division, told the Appleton Post-Crescent in 2019 that Wisconsin was the largest consumer of its pizza offerings, which include DiGiorno, Tombstone, Stouffer’s and California Pizza Kitchen, among others. The same year, Nick Fallucca, an executive at Milwaukee-based Palermo’s Pizza, told Spectrum News that lots of the cheese and meat used for the pizzas comes directly from the state, too.
Fallucca also offered another explanation for Wisconsin’s frozen-pizza habit: He linked it to the state’s long, cold winters — which make settling for frozen pizza even more attractive.
“There’s a big portion of the year when you’re not going outside and you want something that’s convenient and tastes great and feeds the whole family,” Fallucca told the outlet.