Opinions on traditional pizza delivery menu

[Cecillie]

Ds is starting up a pizza making and delivery service from home . I'm encouraging him as he is bored and miserable having lost his job due to Covid .
He has all the business start up , health and safety stuff under control and we are now planning the menu
6 regular and 2 specials each week
I've suggested tray bake type deserts like brownies and choc chip cookies, all homemade,
Also thought option to add bags of popcorn for a movie night deal might work.
Is there anything you might like to see in a menu or add ons for convenience?
Any input appreciated

7.50am and I want pizza

I'd focus on the pizzas if I were him, a few more options plus garlic bread but not puddings, ice cream, drinks etc. We only have those with Dominos as they are in the deals, we don't particularly want them, if the pizza is good we are full. I'd also seriously consider click and collect instead of delivery (we're not all that rural but no deliveroo etc here, people are used to going out to pick up food). There is a wood-fired pizza truck in our area that does a roaring trade via word of mouth, social media etc but they only sell pizza and garlic bread.

I would also steer away from deals, I find ordering from Dominos infuriating, I much prefer the pizza van where it is a simple price per item.

@Turnedouttoes

Definitely some sort of garlic aioli dip for the crusts. I only order overpriced Dominos pizza because the crusts dipped in garlic butter are my favourite part And I’d pay extra for it if it wasn’t included

Me too. Domino's is the only pizza I will eat and its because of the stuffed crust 😍

More great stuff, thank you

It's traditional wood fired type pizza, can only do one size in oven
Yes to better veggie options, dd is veggie so will be on top of that

@BarbaraofSeville luckily my husbands side hustle during lockdown has been developing an app for small food vendors , like Uber eats but without the massive commission. Customers can choose a time slot and preorder up to a week ahead. You are right delivery is the killer but we are quite isolated and can't have people coming here to collect . Plan is if it takes off he can go
Mobile one night a week if can find a site and do click and collect.
Planning on having friend do delivery , all within 5 mile radius.
Although it's a pain, it's also a bonus as no where delivers pizza here.

Dip ideas so far are garlic aioli dip , sirracha Mayo dip and a thing I've come across called hot honey. ( planning a blue cheese Parma ham and hot honey special as well )

Def coleslaw

Pudding wise nice exciting cakes , one choice per week
Local dairy ice cream tubs , choice of four flavours plus weekly special ( no wastage as frozen and we can eat them if not)

Maybe soft drinks , not many people can walk to shop here and it shuts at 7 anyway so might be convenient to have included.

Also planning on doing diy kits for morning delivery to much wider area. Dough and toppings delivered to you to prepare at hone , seems to be a thing now and will have all the stuff anyway so may as well give it a shot
Thanks again for all the great ideas and recipes

Nobody orders salad with a takeaway pizza I’d knock that idea on the head. A few different pizzas, garlic bread and your tray bake/popcorn sounds great to start off. Too many options at the bringing will big you down. Even places like McDonald’s and Dominos have a reduced menu at the moment so nobody will care.

Thank u for the 8:30am pizza craving!!!!!

Oh I would love if you were near us!
We’re rural and have one local Chinese and that’s the only place that delivers to us.

Please have anchovies. It's one of the first things I look for when thinking of ordering a pizza. You don't need many and they are v cheap but make such a difference.

Another vote for nduja, goes really well with a soft goats cheese. I love anchovies too, and capers.

Offer a lower-calorie pizza (thin crust, low fat cheese and less of it) as lots of people will be trying to lose lockdown weight.

Sounds good, hope it goes well for him.

The pizza place I mentioned do pizza kits and they seem popular.

I think the add ons like ice cream and soft drinks are a good idea, because there's a good margin on those without any prep or oven time required.

In my experience of rural areas and food vans, they're a good way to reach a lot of communities with lower overheads than a fixed premises, especially if you can set up in village A on Thursday, village B on Friday and village C on Saturday (not sure if there would be sufficient demand on Sunday to Wednesday). When I was on holiday on a remote Scottish Island once, the fish and chip van that came on a Thursday tea time was a roaring success.

Our favourite ‘posh’ pizza delivery do Nutella doughballs which must be very easy as he’ll have the dough anyway. They are divine!

A bit more complicated than vegan/vegetarian as it will require cross contamination elimination... Gluten free.

We get pizza takeaway from a nice local place that does sourdough pizza. It's so good. But we sometimes find ourselves going elsewhere where the pizza isn't so good just because they do sides. So chips or something are great.

The place I mention above don't do chips and it's become a bit of an in joke. On the FB feed there's often banter about the lack of chips.

I'm no rabid carb fearer and have been known to double or even triple carb on many occasion, but in this instance, I don't think chips are necessary.

However, if you have the space for a fryer, they're another low effort high margin item and if there's demand, they might be worth doing. If no-one buys them, you can always eat them yourselves along with your leftover pop and ice cream.

Our local pizza van does 7nights a week and seems just as busy on the traditionally quiet ones as the weekends. It is somewhat weather dependent, in our town it parks near a park and on sunny days there are loads of families out there eating pizza picnics. They vary their opening hours, starting and finishing earlier in winter and at weekends, but always keep their social media updated.

You could also offer a 'choose your own toppings' option (based on pick and mix of the toppings used on your set menu). I'm with the pp on anchovies being a must!

Would people really order soft drinks with a delivery?
I resent paying soft drink prices when eating out, there is no way I'd buy them with a delivery - I'd have soft drinks in the house anyway.

Someone mentioned upthread but I love the idea of a bit of local flavour for puddings, parkin, sticky toffee etc for a takeaway. Good quality drinks too, fentimans or St Pellegrino etc. I would definitely try and keep it simple though to start with. Definitely have a vegan option, or an option to make veggie pizzas vegan.

If you felt there was a demand for salad or a vegetable side, but didnt want to get involved with the contamination risk and storage, what about a dressed, roasted veg side?

The pizza kits are a brilliant idea, and would make use of his daytime delivery capacity.

I really love the gimmick when you eat somewhere with a 'build your own' style menu. I've seen it at gourmet burger places; a pub that specialised in pies etc.

So, say there's a standard price for a pizza meal (one / two / four people) and they choose a base / sauce/ 3 toppings / side / dessert and drink. Extra of anything would incur an additional charge.

It's not for everyone but I really like the simplification and not agonising over 'do I want a side?' because the decision is already made for me. I'm sure I'd spend much less if I was choosing individual items because I'd think 'oh I've got squash in the cupboard so I don't really need that San Pelegríno...

I wouldn't ever buy soft drinks at takeaway prices, but we don't really drink them so we've had a few cans hanging around in the fridge for years when they've come free as part of a meal deal, but lots of people clearly do, and they're a high profit item as they only cost around 30 pence a can from somewhere like Costco, but sold for between £1 and £1.50 in takeaways.

I'm more curious as to whether anyone pays near restaurant prices for wine with their delivery/click and collect - not sure if these are available right now, but in the last year, I've definitely seen bottles of wine on takeaway menus for £12-20 that's almost certainly the same sort of stuff you can get for well under half that in the supermarket, rather than fine wine. But we always have wine in the fridge and a more general supply, so wouldn't ever have to buy it at that price.

A breakfast pizza that he will deliver to me? Now?

Chicken wings are my must have pizza menu item. I possibly prefer them to the actual pizza!

I'm rural and our local delivery also delivers bread milk and veg boxes . Started during first lockdown and seems to ve going well

Nduja! Always.

Garlic dough balls are always a hit in our house too. You could pre prepare and freeze? Cheap too.

And I love antipasti with pizza, olives, fresh basil, mozzarella, sun dried tomatoes, cured meats, peppers. They always have long use by dates on them too. Small tubs for £2 or so each would definitely have me spending more.