It's a sad, sad day indeed. In the papers over the last few months, it's been story after story over about the rising price of food and raw ingredients. First cheese, then beef, and now wheat. If you're a rabid pizza eater, that last sentence should tell you where this is going. Cheese and wheat? Yeah. Two of the major ingredients of our favorite food.
In the old days, [Two Boots manager Efrain] Aquino said, “the biggest overhead was always rent and cheese.” Now, the biggest cost is flour. Last week, he said a 50-pound bag cost $28.50; a year ago, the same bag was $12.
Chan's reportage prompted one Slice reader to comment:
Dear Adam,
How about a little more contemplation about the state of the slice in general. In '04 you lamented the $2 slice. And now the Times is saying that the $3 slice is just around the corner. While I understand the complaint of many pizza shop owners, I really think the price of wheat has a lot less do with their price than their utility bills. $28/50lb bag of wheat amortized over god-knows-how-many-pies just doesn't seem to justify a 50¢ price jump. Utility bills tripling in a few years however... —Canonizer
I don't know what I could add to that comment, Canonizer, especially without having talked to pizzeria owners. Is it really the flour? Or is the flour just the latest dramatic example of across-the-board cost increases—and merely the straw that broke the water buffalo's back? Utilities, as you say, are getting crazy with the energy squeeze, and I'd imagine that the rising property prices over the last decade couldn't have helped either.
I wish it were only as simple as a grand price-fixing scheme among pizzeria owners, but these cost jumps seem to be here to stay, what with the state of the global economy.
I blanched at Di Fara's $4 slice, but with the latest wheat news in the last couple weeks, Dom DeMarco looks, in retrospect, like a man a month ahead of his time. But DeMarco's an exception as of yet—the high demand for his pizza allows him to get away with the $4 slice. But how long before the fast-approaching $3 average becomes $4 as a matter of course all over the city? Give it a year or two, and we may look back at the controversy over $3 slices as quaint, just as we do the following passage from a 2004 Daily News article:
"I'll make my own at home, using ketchup and English muffins, before I pay $2 a slice," fumed Manhattan pizza fan Bev Astro. "Pizza should be a buck fifty, a buck seventy-five, tops."
I think it is interesting that at $3 a slice, it really takes pizza out of being a cheaper option at lunch time. I doubt this will affect any of the pizzerias, as Manhattaners have shown that they'll pay all sorts of ridiculous prices for lunch, but bringing the cost of two slices up to six dollars is interesting - you can get a decent sandwich for $6, which can be a quite a bit healthier.
Just a thought... And as for the controversy being "quaint": even if we're all used to it now, I think we can easily agree that all those mediocre slices we've all had would taste a lot better at $1.50 instead of $2.25/$2.50 and especially $3.
it'll be interesting to watch what happens. i don't think pizzerias are going to see it balance out in the near term. when pizza stops being the cheaper option, people are going to go elsewhere unless they just crave it.
Just went to Fornino in Williamsburg last night and dropped a whole lot more than $3 for two small pies and a couple of glasses of wine. If the pizza's good and you like it a lot, then you pay what they're asking. $3 seems high, but what are the alternatives? Fast food?
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6 Comments:
Not to be a pedant, but thirty slices at $3 each is $90. Now, if they were all Di Fara slices...
Enmalkm at 9:32AM on 03/07/08
Thanks, Enmalkm! I think I was thinking "$4 Di Fara" as I was doing the math. The computational error in the photo caption above has been fixed!
Adam Kuban at 9:46AM on 03/07/08
I think it is interesting that at $3 a slice, it really takes pizza out of being a cheaper option at lunch time. I doubt this will affect any of the pizzerias, as Manhattaners have shown that they'll pay all sorts of ridiculous prices for lunch, but bringing the cost of two slices up to six dollars is interesting - you can get a decent sandwich for $6, which can be a quite a bit healthier.
Just a thought... And as for the controversy being "quaint": even if we're all used to it now, I think we can easily agree that all those mediocre slices we've all had would taste a lot better at $1.50 instead of $2.25/$2.50 and especially $3.
ppohio at 9:54AM on 03/07/08
Wow, what a great quote from the news. Thanks for posting and I'd appreciate learning about any discussions you have with the restaurateurs.
canonizer at 10:33AM on 03/07/08
it'll be interesting to watch what happens. i don't think pizzerias are going to see it balance out in the near term. when pizza stops being the cheaper option, people are going to go elsewhere unless they just crave it.
foodinmouth at 1:58PM on 03/07/08
Just went to Fornino in Williamsburg last night and dropped a whole lot more than $3 for two small pies and a couple of glasses of wine. If the pizza's good and you like it a lot, then you pay what they're asking. $3 seems high, but what are the alternatives? Fast food?
BrianPrestonCampbell at 9:50AM on 03/08/08