Poll: Pizza - Pickup or Deliver

[BiscuitBoy]

Hello 'hounds...given the recent spate of pizza talk, for those who dine on pizza at home, do you prefer to have it delivered, or pick it up yourself. Also added a column for region, subregion (See map, my Canadian friends, just put in "C"), and gender.

For ease of tabulation, D or P (deliver, pickup), NE, MA (region, subregion) and M or F (gender)

[vttp926]

P SA NC F

[BiscuitBoy]

What part of NC? My uncle gave up on his search for good pizza, and made his own oven

[PotatoHouse]

I didn't participate because my answers would be skewed by the fact that we live 10 miles outside of town so NOBODY delivers to our neighborhood. But if they did I would prefer delivery just out of convenience, especially during one of our infamous Northern Maine snowstorms (I would tip accordingly).

[iluvcookies]

D MA NY F
Unless we want Frank Pepe, which does not deliver.

[sandylc]

Sorry - just noticed the map - duh.

But the headings aren't legible no matter how much I enlarge/brighten my screen!

I said UM for Minnesota. If you have determined Minnesota to be midwest, I object ;-) - Minnesotans are living in a different country than Hoosiers, Illini, etc.

[Pwmfan]

Thanks for this. I too could not get the legend above tha area that included MN to resolve to anything I could read.

[BiscuitBoy]

Lets see...I had 2 Minnesota replies, both voted pickup...the legend calls for MN to be in the upper midwest

[alliegator]

Result have been tallied, but I'll still have a go.
P M AZ F
I've never had a pizza delivered in my entire life. I don't know why, maybe I just think it's faster if I go get it.

[BiscuitBoy]

Thanks! You have joined the majority...I may re-total the stats if this thread keeps rolling

[BiscuitBoy]

And the results are IN!

Some I figured (pickup is king where people demand a good pie, the "pizza-belt"), some surprised me (a close ratio of female/male pizza hounds). Out of those that played, 84% preferred to pick up their pies, vs having them delivered. All south regions were 100% pickup, as was the PNW, tho the reporting group on these 2 areas was small. The northeast was 90% in favor of getting their own, while the west was 75% willing to deal with delivery.

[grampart]

I'm guessing the quality of pizza in the west is such that the difference between pick up and delivery is so small that it doesn't enter into the equation. Or maybe more folks do the "baking stone re-heat" out there. What's your take?

[BiscuitBoy]

Bingo! That's was my suspision, 'specially when talking to posters about it from a different thread. Maybe too, how you were raised, with that delivery expectation, or even age, maybe younger folks don't want to pick it up.

[ratgirlagogo]

I grew up in California and traditionally there was no such thing as slices - you ate the whole pie in the restaurant or got it delivered. This was true as late as the 80's. While things have (so I've been told) changed on that front, culturally pizza is not really a street food out West, not like Mexican food is. The whole approach to pizza is different.

[BiscuitBoy]

Slices? Hmmm, I don't know any in my circle who pickup slices, or have'em delivered. I wouldn't call pizza a streetfood in the east either...anyone else?

[MGZ]

Slices are a part of life in the "Belt". When you find a good spot, it's worth cherishing (and learning when they take the pies out of the oven). Think of it like stoppin' off for a small bag of chips or somethin'. Personally, I would much rather snag a slice than get chain fast food anytime.

[bagelman01]

BB..............

Pizza is street food in NYC,

Not from the cart as we think of street food, but every neighborhood joint on the avenue had a window where you could buy slices without even having to go inside.

The first time I saw slices for sale here in Connecticut was 1962, when the Connecticut Post Mall opened in Milford. The pizza place there (Next to W.T. Grant, facing Boston Post Road) sold both slices of Neopolitan and Sicilian pies.

Pizza as a street food is dependent on heavy foot traffic, not common outside of big cities.

One of my favorite NYC photos:

[MGZ]

It's pretty common in NJ small towns too, with their "Main Street" cultures.

[BiscuitBoy]

Ha! That dog knows what's good. Never knew the Post was that old

[josephnl]

Perhaps we are lucky, but where we live there are 3 or 4 places that serve really high quality authentic Neopolitan pizzas. None of these places deliver...and I think justifiably so. The delivered product would, I think, be nowhere near as good as fresh out of the oven. When we want pizza, we go out and eat the pizza there. If we want to stay home, we make definitely 2nd rate pizza in. Because the pizza out is so much better, we rarely eat pizza at home. We've never had delivered, or take-out pizza that compares remotely with that which is served right from the oven...so for us, we never do it.

[hyacinthgirl]

I debated responding because I can't do so easily with the letters, but here goes.

Currently
P, NE, PA, F but there currently are no delivery options where I live

Formerly
D and P, W, CA, still F -Delivery when circumstances kept us home-bound, Pick-up when we had the time and ability to drive an hour round-trip to get to the location that had the better quality pizza.

[Bacardi1]

Have never had, nor will I ever have, a pizza delivered.

For one thing, we like to check the pie before we leave the joint. While I'm easy to please pizza-wise, hubby isn't, so a mistake in the order is more unpleasant for him.

For another thing, the pizza ends up better quality & takes less time in the long run to just pick the pie up ourselves instead of waiting for a delivery person to gather his orders together (surely you don't think they just run out with just your order, do you?) & show up at the door.

Last but not least, we've never - nor will we God-willing EVER - live close enough to be in any restaurant's delivery zone.

So for us it's "P"; rural "VA"; and both "M" & "F", as hubby & I feel the same way about this. :)

[BiscuitBoy]

counted you and Mr Bacardi as separate entries, to keep the gender values clean

[Dinermite]

P, NE, NJ, M

[rockandroller1]

This is already proving interesting - thus far everyone who is in the NE with me has chosen delivery, so maybe it depends on the culture of where you are.

[BiscuitBoy]

Out of 8 NE responders, 2 preferred delivery, 25%. Maybe give the dataset a while longer to mature, er, suss itself out!

[rockandroller1]

I might not be reading the data right then. When I posted there were only 3 responders that said NE and they all had selected D. Now there is another from NE. I agree with you, it needs time to get going, I just thought it was interesting from the initial responses.

[LeoLioness]

I would think urban vs suburban vs rural would play more into it than geographical location.

[BiscuitBoy]

Definitely, was unsure how many questions people would feel comfortable answering, and maybe just not bother. Age was another stat I was kicking around

[MGZ]

By NE, do you mean New England or the Northeast? From what I've seen folks like me and bagelman, in the "Pizza Belt" (which would be Northeast), would rather go eat in, but will pick up when forced. Also, how would one define the Northeast - Mid-Atlantic plus New England? Is PA in there? Are we talkin' anywhere east of the Mississippi? I mean, could Ohio really be the Northeast? There is a markedly different pizza culture west of the Delaware.

[rockandroller1]

I just consulted the map above in the OP. I apparently put the wrong place on my post. *headdesk*

[BiscuitBoy]

NE=NorthEast, New England (another "n" "e" designation) the subregion. There's a map up top

[MGZ]

My point was basically that the designations created a flaw from the start. It is clear from some of the responses that there was misunderstanding. Why not just invite narrative comments? I mean, there is no reason that PA should be lumped in with NJ and NY for such a poll. Or, even worse, including CT with VT or ME?

[BiscuitBoy]

Yeah, I get what you're saying, like pie from Maine won't be comparable to one from Connecticut. The narrative comments would have made more entertaining reading, but I needed a way to strictly (maybe brutally) categorize results, and keep the dataset static

[MGZ]

Maybe you could ask everyone who has already posted for a more definite location? I'm at the Central Jersey Shore - not far from either Trenton or NY. Pizza is a whole different animal here compared to the stuff I had when living in PA, DE, MD, or DC (bad) or visited places like CT or Chicago (good). I'd gladly get a Chicago deep dish delivered from a place close by, but an apizza with clams? Never!

[ohmyyum]

I am originally from the pizza belt (NE, N. NJ) and agree with you completely on eating in preferred, pickup when forced but never delivery!

[Pwmfan]

P UMW/MN F

My favorite pizza comes from a mom and pop shop about 20 minutes away that does not do delivery.

[Kontxesi]

P S VA F

[rockandroller1]

D NE F

[rockandroller1]

That should be D MW F (assuming MW is Midwest)

[BiscuitBoy]

okay...making the change

[youareabunny]

P SW F

I was 12 years old at my classmates birthday. Her father ordered pizza for us and when the guy arrived he opens this box saying "we accidentally overcooked your pizza, is this ok?" The pepperonis were dark and hard, but we were 6 hungry 12-year olds.

That was 16 years ago and I only pick up, and I check it before paying.

[ratgirlagogo]

Exactly. An excellent policy.

[bagelman01]

I usually eat at the Apizza place, but in the occasional instances where we have restaurant pizza at home (meaning I'm too lazy to fire up the pizza oven in the yard) I pick up.

P, NE, CT, M

In the heart of the pizza belt. More than 10 good or better than good pizza places within a 7 minute drive. A B+ place is exactly 1/2 mile from the house.

PLUS in our area, only the crappy places deliver!

[BiscuitBoy]

oorah, my friend

[breakfastfan]

P MA F

[deet13]

P S SA M

[ohmyyum]

P SE NC F

[seamunky]

P, P, W, M

[sandylc]

P, UM, MN, F

[LeoLioness]

D NE(MA) F

I don't have a car and I don't like any of the pizza places within a few blocks of me (sub/pizza are a dime a dozen here, but they are mostly unmemorable).

So rather than add cab fare to my bill, I just get it delivered. I don't feel like the product suffers too much for it.

[grampart]

For a pizza not to suffer from being delivered, it must have sucked to begin with.

[kattyeyes]

HA HA HA HA! I wanna have pizza with you, grampart. :)

[LeoLioness]

How long does it take you to get a pizza delivered? It's usually at my door within a half hour of me calling.

[grampart]

I NEVER get pizza delivered to my home. The few times I've had it at friends it's been bad. If it takes a half hour to get to you, then it has suffered for a half hour. Imagine you have a local source for wonderful, fresh from the oven, croissants. Now, how about you call and ask for them to be delivered. Out of the oven and into a vinyl zippered bag they go. 15 minutes later, they're at your door. How do you think they'd compare to one eaten at the point of purchase? Same same pizza.

[LeoLioness]

The half hour time I cited includes cooking time. Drive time is about 10 minutes. It's really not the biggest problem in my life.

[emmie]

I'm from the same area as LeoLioness, and we always get delivery as well, and it usually comes in 30 min from ordering (to include cook time). If the big issue with delivery is the 10-15 min delivery drive from the shop, wouldn't there be the same level of "pizza suffering" if I drove/took a cab to the shop myself and returned home? The pizza still needs to make it to my home in a vehicle.

[grampart]

Either way the pizza suffers. That's where the baking stone in your oven comes in. See my response below regarding that.

[Sooeygun]

No car for me either. We order the pizza and turn on the oven with the pizza stone in. After it is delivered, a few minutes on the stone crisps up the crust.

[BiscuitBoy]

good work around

[grampart]

Agreed! A pizza stone may be the only work-around when it comes to delivery (or even take-out) pizza. I make my own pizza 99% of the time and use a thick Fibrament baking stone. Since my dough recipe goes through 3 day refrigerated rise, we sometimes resort to calling a pick-up order from a fairly decent place just down the road a mile or so. I have the stone/oven preheated before I even call in the order and tell them to undercook the pie (3/4 cooked) and why. This makes for a much better result than taking a fully cooked pie that may get over-done or burned while it's crisping/rewarming.

[gourmanda]

P OH F

I order the pizza half/par baked. 40 minutes before we're ready to eat, the pizza stone goes in the oven to heat for 20 minutes then the pizza goes on and bakes for 20 minutes. Hot, crisp and delicious!

[jlhinwa]

P PNW WA F

[Will Owen]

D* W (S)CA M

* Given that the pizza place is three blocks away …

[catface1]

P C F

[dave_c]

P W P M

[The Oracle]

P, W, CA, F

[TXMandy]

D, TX, F

[MGZ]

No pizza should ever be trusted to delivery. If you're willin' to accept that, you're willin' to accept pizza that would not be worth payin' for in the "Pizza Belt" (NY, NJ, CT).

First, a man calls and orders a pizza. He then leaves home so as to arrive ten minutes before the pie is scheduled to be done. He pays upon arrival and alerts the cashier to the fact that he will be sitting at the bar excitedly awaiting his pizza as soon as it is removed from the oven. He milks a cocktail until the box is handed to him. He then finishes said cocktail and proceeds home as quickly as possible to his beautiful, hungry wife.

[James Cristinian]

I agree. Pizza in one of those delivery boxes just steam and ruin the crust. I don't live in the pizza belt, Houston here, but we have some decent pies, I just have to drive 20-30 minutes. Usually I order and get a glass of wine and consume my fill of the hot pizza on the way home, leaving the rest for leftovers.

[grampart]

I once read that pizza begins to deteriorate about 7 minutes after leaving the oven. And that is just sitting on a pan at the bar or pizza joint without the box or "special" bag to speed the process.

[James Cristinian]

Great minds think alike.

[BiscuitBoy]

You remind me of "The Transporter"

[ratgirlagogo]

I take it this man is walking rather than driving home after finishing his cocktail? Good, I'm walking as well for my pickup. We never get delivery. I admit I do consider it since we live near three good pizzerias and a little further from a great one (Rizzo's in Astoria) and sometimes I am tempted to order delivery from Rizzo's rather than walking over there and back. But then I COME TO MY SENSES. I sometimes get other kind of food delivered, but not pizza.

P, NYC, F

[mucho gordo]

I'll drink to that!

[boyzoma]

P PNW OR F

[donovt]

D NE NY M

[donovt]

Actually just had a pizza arrive 19 minutes after ordering. They usually arrive in 25 minutes or so. I don't have a car, so it would take more time for me to walk home with the pizza than it takes for the delivery to get here.

[pedalfaster]

H (as in "home"-didn't see that option but would imagine there are many "by hand" pizza makers here on chowhound), MW, E (Indiana) F.

[BiscuitBoy]

very true, my cycling friend!

[treb]

Agree, H P NE.

[grampart]

P GA M

[BiscuitBoy]

I'll go first:

P NE NE M

[kattyeyes]

Aren't you
P NE CT M ?!

I'm
P NE CT F

Maybe you moved. HA HA.

[BiscuitBoy]

I was going for subregion such as northeast/new england, but state is fine too