Pizza is a great meal. It will remain at the top of list as everyone’s favorite fast food for a long time to come. Judging from my personal experience in the business, the average order for a family of four is between $19 and $25 depending on how many toppings Mom and Dad get. These prices are the amount you’d pay if you picked up the pizza yourself. Getting the pizza delivered usually will bring some extra costs into the equation. The delivery charge can range from $0 to $5 in most parts of the country. Some restaurants will give you free delivery as long as you meet a minimum price (i.e. spend $25 or more and delivery is free).
People will always get pizza delivered. Some people don’t have cars, some people don’t like to drive, some people can’t leave because of the kids, babysitters need dinner, or some people are flat out lazy. Whatever the case may be, I know I will still have a J.O.B. Now if you are trying to get out of debt or save a little money, pizza delivery can be pricey.
The Cost
I will use some real world examples to work through the cost of pizza delivery. 90% of my business is repeat customers. Meaning, I deliver to the same people every weekend. I have a Friday group, a Saturday group, a Sunday group, and a 2 out of 3 group. Gary is part of the Friday group and orders pizza every single Friday. Mark is part of the 2 out of 3 group and orders at least 2 times a weekend. Now Mark is a single guy who hates to cook so he orders a bunch during the week as well. I’m also adding Josh into the mix. Josh orders 2-3 times a month, but is a “big” tipper (usually 50% of the order).
These are real life examples and they always tip the same so I feel they are perfect for the calculations.
Once you start to look at the numbers, delivery can really add up. Especially if you order more than once a week and are a good tipper. If you’re looking to save a little cash throughout the year, I’d get take out and save the money.
Tricks of The Trade
I personally never get delivery. I do however understand the need for my services. Never get delivery from a pizza joint that has taken longer than one hour to deliver to you in the past. The pizza will not be as hot as if you picked it up. Look for a store that delivers in 30 to 45 minutes. There are pizza joints out there that will get you the pizza quicker than if you picked it up yourself. My store is usually one of those. We do everything we can to deliver in 20 to 30 minutes. Some people can even get their food in 10 to 12 minutes. It takes 6 minutes for a pizza to be cooked and 2 minutes for it to be made and boxed. If you like great service, tip the drive 15-20% If you’ve ordered before chances are that you are already known as a good tipper, bad tipper, stiffer, or good person. If you are a bad tipper/stiffer, you can expect the food to be delivered after the good person/good tipper. We make every effort to get everybody their food hot and fast, but we may come to a complete stop at all the stop signs if we are going to a bad tippers house.
There is always one thing to keep in mind when getting food delivered, “would I be happy with this tip if I was the delivery person?” It’s that simple. If you can answer that question and be happy with it, then we will be happy too.
If you really want to save money, make your own pizza. Look at the numbers above again. Mark and Gary are spending over $1,000 a year in pizza. I’ll be doing a Frugal Friday Tip about making you’re own pizza soon.
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Article by Jeff Kosola
DeliverAwayDebt is designed to help people along the journey toward "Debt Freedom". I use my battle against debt to demonstrate anyone with enough passion and motivation can blast away debt. My net worth is updated monthly and all my Pizza Delivery earnings are tracked. These are posted to demonstrate that YOU CAN eliminate your own debt. It will take some work, but nothing in life that matters is easy.
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I think $5 is a good tip.
What’s the biggest one you’ve ever gotten?
Mrs. Money´s last blog ..Kitchen Remodeling on a Budget
Mrs. Money
A $5 tip is always a good tip, as long as the order isn’t a hundred buck. You will never get a Stiffy Alert with a $5 tip
The best tip I have received was a $22 tip on a $18 order. The couple gave me $40 and said “We’re all set” I counted the money on the way back to my car and noticed the amount. I quickly ran back to the door to inform them of the mistake. They opened the door with a smile and said “We know, have a great night.” I thought that was real cool. The next time they ordered they received a free pizza from me.
I gave you an award on my blog! Stop by to pick it up.
Mysti´s last blog ..Let the Sunshine in!
Oh snap, cool. I’ll be over in a minute
I think if pizza is one of your only splurges then it’s not a bad way to splash out and a delivery is always a nice treat… plus you are helping someone earn a little more (yes I always tip).
I mostly make my own pizza though as do prefer to splurge by going out to a restaurant if I have the spare cash…. It’s also healthier to make your own even if not quite as good at times.
2-3 times a week on pizza is a bit excessive though, I think he need some cooking lessons the poor fellow.
Forest´s last blog ..How To Avoid Going To The Supermarket
You’re right Forest, it is not a bad way to splurge. I just like to highlight how much it can cost you. I never new until I started running the number.
Does Egypt have good pizza delivery??
I delivered to Mark and Gary last night, just like clock work. The whole time I was standing at their doors I was thinking about the post. Haha
We have all the usual suspects here, Pizza Hut, Dominos, Papa Johns and a lot of local places and in egypt you can get ANYTHING delivered, and I mean anything. McDonalds, KFC and every restaurant delivers as well as Pharmacy’s, dry cleaning….. I mean anything!
Papa Johns is probably the best I have tried from the well knowns but you pay US prices for US pizza. My local Italian (Egyptian run by a guy who worked in Italy for 18 years) restaurant is cheaper and only two minutes walk. I can sit in and pay much less.
Forest´s last blog ..How To Avoid Going To The Supermarket
I know about the anything delivered. It was the same way when I lived in China. Anything and everything.
Pizza wasn’t as good. We had a local brick oven joint that made ok pizza. We didn’t have much choice though. The was a Pizza Hut 2 hours drive away. We made the track a few times and boy, Pizza Hut never tasted so good
Ha ha, I can’t imagine traveling 2 hours for a Pizza hut ever! But I guess home comforts are sorely missed at times…. I would travel 10 hours for a nice good quality beer here… All they have are a few largers that are passable but not great. I just want a decent British or even American dark and creamy micro brewed beer.
Forest´s last blog ..How To Avoid Going To The Supermarket
I rarely get pizza delivered for four primary reasons:
1) It’s expensive.
2) I usually wait until I’m too hungry to suffer another 45 minutes before eating.
3) I hate paying a tip on top of a delivery charge.
4) I have very little self control, and I shouldn’t be left alone with an entire pizza.
Number 4 is also why I hardly ever buy pizzas from restaurants.
I prefer the Red Baron Singles. Here in D.C., they can cost over $4 a box at regular price, but combined with a sale and coupon, you can get them for $1.50 or $1.75.
You can search for internet coupons for your favorite pizza joints and order online.
Jeff – I don’t know who you work for, but your regular customers might benefit from purchasing a discounted gift card on sites like eBay, GiftCaards.com or PlasticJungle. Gift Card Granny may also be worth taking a look at. They’re like an aggregator for gift card resellers.
Shawanda @ You Have More Than You Think´s last blog ..How NOT to Lose Your FSA Money
I love number 4. I should never be left alone with a hot, taste, pizza either
Coupons are a great way to get pizza at a better price. There is a little secret out in the pizza world, the normal price is usually the coupon price anyway. A lot of people forget to mention the coupon on the phone and it causes pricing issues for the pizza joint. It’s much easier to have the coupon price as the normal price, and just advertise the “coupon price.”
I work at a Mom and Pop pizza shop, but I like the discounted gift card idea. Thank you for your thoughts. I hope you have fun with all the snow in DC this weekend
Thank god Pizza Hut does not deliver. If they did I probably order it 4-5 times a week. All kinds of pizza huts around but I am just out of each area for delivery. Hate garlic so kicks dominoes out. Papa Johns always make me sick but I still order it twice a month. Pizza Hut taste best when reheated.
Do you have any little pizza places around you? You should try one, you’ll probably be surprised how good they are. I’m glad you don’t get pizza 4-5 times a week. Just look at Mark’s totals for a year of getting pizza twice a week.
I just ate pizza tonight!
Two mediums for $5.99 each from Dominos! Perfect for my family of five (including two teens and a 10 year old).
How is the new sauce Ron? I’m NOT a Dominos man and I’m curious if it tastes better.
When we started our debt snowball, pizza delivery — restaurant pizza at all — went by the wayside. I think we’ve ordered out twice in the last eight months: The last time was for the SEC Championship game that BAMA WON! (oh, snap!) Hubs is a big-time Bama fan since forever.
Anyway — Jeff, this is totally beside the point, but how do you do that cool graphic grid up there? Are you copying it from something else you have? I also have thesis, if that makes a difference.
Budgets are the New Black´s last blog ..How Much Do You Spend on Groceries?
Yeah, living the good life when in debt doesn’t quite work well. When I say good life, that means eating out once in a while. A rare treat for those busting their a$$ to get out of debt. Is that Obama or Bama? I’m from Michigan and all we think about is U of M. We never play Bama so I don’t know much about them.
As for the graphic. I just use Excel to make the spreadsheet and use Evernote to capture it. I usually do it at work and most attaching and screen capture programs don’t work. Evernote has a screen clipper that allows you to select anything anywhere on the screen. Then you just save as a jpg and upload to the post just like any other picture. There are a ton of different ways to do this, but this one is quick and works just fine for me
Wow! I’m afraid to think of the amount of pizza I ate as a sophomore in college. I would get out of class at lunch time on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so I would place my delivery order during class so it’d arrive by the time I got home. What a waste!
The thing I’d recommend to people who love pizza (like me!) is to check out Papa Murphy’s. I love, love, love their pizza, and it’s much cheaper than chains. When I was having pizzas delivered multiple times a week, I ordered from Pizza Hut, and it always cost me $20 or more. Papa Murphy’s is $7.64 for a family size pepperoni (usually on sale, plus they have a loyalty card that gives you the 12th family size pizza for free). And the pizzas are so large that they usually last through three-four meals, which puts it at $1.91 – $2.50 each meal. I can live with that! It’s still $397 for pizza a year if I buy one each week, but there’s no delivery. And it’s cheaper!
Red´s last blog ..Bitten by the debt payment bug
College and Pizza go hand in hand. I remember those later night of “studying” and eating pizza.
I’ve never had Papa Murphy’s. I’ve heard alot about them but of course we don’t have any around here.