Frozen Pizza Sales are Growing. Here’s 3 Reasons Why.

The article, 2018 Pizza Trends: Growing – Through Thick & Thin, offered a “state of the industry” look at the frozen pizza category. In terms of retail sales, this category is massive, accounting for almost $5 billion in annual sales. Here are three things about the article that stood out to us.

Frozen pizzas are getting more premium
According to IRI, a Chicago-based market research firm, unit sales of frozen pizzas increased 1.55% while dollar sales nearly doubled that increase, reporting a 3.02% gain. This imbalance leads us to believe that higher-priced pizzas (premium) are driving growth in the category as opposed to “value” pizzas. This is great news for frozen pizza manufacturers as well as restaurants, as consumers choosing quality over price point should boost the overall health of the category.

Pizza crusts continue to be focus of innovation
The popularity of Detroit-style and grandma pizzas has been a dominating trend with restaurant pizza sales and we’re seeing the same kind of movement on the frozen side. From thick and crispy to super-thin, frozen pizza manufacturers have developed many new recent crust innovations allowing consumers to achieve a good crust in their own ovens.

The DiGiorno Crispy Pan Pizza promises a “crispy” and “caramelized” square crust and comes with its own temporary pan to bake the pizza. It’s an interesting concept, but we’re partial to the bake you’ll get from our own pans. In addition to innovating with a thicker crust pizza, the DiGiorno brand released two Ultra Thin Crust pizzas, which also happen to be gluten free.

Health + indulgence
When choosing a healthy food option, frozen pizza generally isn’t on the top of the list for any consumer. However, The Real Good Food Company, Los Angeles, is trying to change that. It recently launched two new lines of frozen pizzas and breakfast pizzas that live up to the company’s name. Real Good Food pizzas are made with ingredients such as antibiotic-free chicken and corn- or rice-based crusts. As a result, their pizzas contain only 4g of carbs with 25g or protein per serving.

Other frozen pizza manufacturers have taken similar steps as well, cleaning up pizza labels by removing artificial ingredients, colors and preservatives, while trying to use ingredients such as vegetables to impart beneficial health properties without sacrificing taste. This straddling of the line between health and indulgence has allowed consumers to take a second look at eating pizza as part of a healthy diet. We approve.