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

Pizza kits are a brill idea too - great for kids!!

Oooh I just thought about arancini too, delish!

Agree with the idea of antipasti. Much longer storage life than salad and you would have most of it in stock already to be used for pizza toppings. We always get pop with takeaway - feels like more of a treat, and avoids the trek to the local shop, but would need a diet option.
I think if you keep the menu quite short, not diversifying into things like chicken, it can make you seem more specialist and high quality. Good veggie options are always welcome, but I honestly cant see there being enough market in a small rural area to make vegan/gluten free worth his while.

Could be as simple as having grated Violife or similar in the freezer and the option to swap it for 'normal' cheese. Just because veganism is so popular at the minute

Marinara pizza, please, and arancini - on repeat

True, about the Violife (vile stuff, but each to their own). I was thinking more of the faff of removing risk of cross contamination, which is a much bigger issue for gluten free.

Our local pizza place does these amazing chocolate doughnut/pizza balls. Pizza dough with chocolate and sugar sprinkled on them.

Also nduja and goats cheese is my favourite of theirs! It’s great to have somewhere with more interesting toppings than pepperoni or ham and mushroom.........

They also do a gorgeous vegan one with falafel and roasted aubergine

Echoing pp, some decent additional toppings like anchovies, olives, capers. The pizza places in my area don't offer them at all, just things like spicy beef or tandoori chicken! I usually have to add my own.

Oh and if you are going to have a vegan option please let people add meat as an extra. It drives me insane that Dominoes don’t understand people may want a dairy free pizza with meat on it so instead I have to order without cheese

Oh and unless the chips are something special, don't bother. My local Dominoes wedges were so bad I couldn't eat them, they were clearly cheap undercooked frozen ones

Ah got you, PeckyOwl I fully agree about Violife! Yes, I would probably avoid offering gluten free in a domestic kitchen. It would be very hard to guarantee no cross contamination.

No help but by god do I want pizza now

Polenta chips as a side?

Agree with n'duja and goats cheese - also those tiny roquito peppers.

A pot of pizza sauce for dipping crusts (I always look for this but never found a pizza place to do this)

who else is having a pizza today then?! Hahaha

I totally disagree with the build your own style meal, I really hate these, please if you are going to do this please make sure there is a clear price for just buying pizzas on their own. I know you want to sell extras but I really resent the obvious up-selling of things I don't want and I'm far less likely to become a repeat customer if I feel I'm being shunted into ice cream and soft drinks every time like the big chains do.

Sorry for eliciting pizza cravings 🤣
Look on the bright side, I’m going to gain about ten stone eating left over baked goods and ice cream !

Really good thoughts about gluten free contamination issues, think best avoided by now

Vegan options with ability to add meat for dairy free peeps is inspired, never would have thought of that .

Will def be capers and anchovies
And olives, nice olives not those tasteless hard black plastic ones. Something like the crespo dry black Greek olives with herbs.

With our pizza van it's so simple, choice of about ten pizzas, each marked with a price, no combination offers, we can choose in about a minute compared to half an hour of faffing on the Dominos website with deals, sides, combinations.

We would be unlikely to buy popcorn or cookies with pizza. We wouldn’t get salad or coleslaw either. Would just want to see a good choice of pizzas.

Stay away from things that could risk food poisoning - ie chicken wings (hard to keep the correct temp in a non-commercial kitchen for instance), and drinks that take prep time and clean up time (ie smoothies and milkshakes).

Depending on where you are vegan pizzas are becoming hugely popular - though I agree with the above comment on adding meat.

You get huge mark ups on the add options for toppings.

Have a plan for food surplus / waste, and market that into the advertising ie. food bank etc.

He needs to keep the options small to start with.
You don't want to have money tied up as stock. Especially perishable stock.

Things like onions/peppers/pepperoni/sweetcorn/ chopped cooked chicken and bacon and even grated cheese can be frozen. Some used straight from freezer, some defrosted as needed.
Sauces/dips can be frozen too. You can get small portion pots with lids if he wants to make his own in larger batches. Then defrost a few at a time. Pre portioned so ready to go.

Don't bother with salad.

Same bases as pizza for garlic bread.
Maybe stuffed crust option?

Maybe a chicken option like goujons or poppers. Again easy to cook from frozen.

Wedges or chips.

Buy in some cans but don't go out with options.
Coke, diet coke, Sprite, fanta.

Does he know about allergies/ingredients lists? They will need to be available.

Also gluten free option. Dough/cheese.

Definitely vegan options and Mark allergens on the menu - I am vegan and always feel bad that I end up ordering from chain pizza places rather than independents because the latter don’t have vegan options on the menu and I don’t know if they have milk powder or something in the dough if I were to order without cheese.

@Whatsnewpussyhat

Also gluten free option. Dough/cheese.

There's no way I'd order a gluten free option from someone making pizzas in their kitchen or a pizza van. The risk of cross contamination is too high and the implications if you make someone ill aren't worth it. DD has been glutened by Pizza Hut before now and they have strict training and policies.

You'd need a separate oven or be able to scrub the wood fired oven out before each gluten free pizza as well as a full clean down of surfaces before making the pizza. Wouldn't be worth it sadly.

Don’t use Violife (Vilelife as it’s known in our house!) if you want any vegan repeat business! The best dairy free cheese is Mozzerisella- pizza express and zizzi use it.

I second mozzarisella!