The word "pizza" first appeared in a Latin text from theItalian town of Gaeta back in 997 AD. But flatbreads with toppings? Those goback thousands of years. Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans all had theirversions—basically bread with olive oil, herbs, and whatever else they hadlying around.
But modern pizza as we know it? That's 100% Naples, Italy,specifically in the 18th and 19th centuries. Naples was a bustling,working-class port city, and street vendors started selling flatbreads toppedwith tomatoes—which, fun fact, Europeans originally thought were poisonous whenthey arrived from the Americas.
The game-changer came in 1889. King Umberto I and Queen Margheritavisited Naples, and a pizza maker named Raffaele Esposito created a specialpizza for them. He topped it with tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil—representingthe red, white, and green of the Italian flag. The queen loved it, andboom—Pizza Margherita was born.
Now, pizza stayed pretty regional until Italian immigrants brought it toAmerica in the late 1800s. The first American pizzeria? Lombardi's,opened in New York City in 1905, and it's still operating today.
After World War II, American soldiers who'd been stationed in Italy camehome craving pizza. That demand exploded, and the rest is delicious history.
SEGMENT 2: THE PIZZA BUSINESS—WHO'SCASHING IN?
HOST: Alright, let's talk money. Because pizza isn't just food—it's a massiveglobal industry worth over $145 billion annually. So who's getting richoff our pizza obsession?
The Big Players:
1. Domino's Pizza
The largest pizza chain in the world with over 19,000 locations across 90+countries. They basically revolutionized pizza delivery with their tracking appand "30 minutes or less" promise—though they dropped the timeguarantee after some... let's say "aggressive driving" incidents.Annual revenue? Around $4.5 billion.
2. Pizza Hut
The OG sit-down pizza chain, founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas. They've gotabout 18,000 locations worldwide. Pizza Hut pioneered the stuffed crust pizzain 1995, and yes, that's the one Donald Trump ate backwards in a commercial.Annual revenue: roughly $12 billion globally.
3. Papa John's
"Better ingredients, better pizza"—you know the slogan. About 5,500locations worldwide. They're known for that little pepperoncini pepper in everybox and for being extremely particular about their dough recipe. Annualrevenue: around $2 billion.
4. Little Caesars
The "Hot-N-Ready" champions. They're actually the third-largest pizzachain in the U.S., with about 4,000 locations. Their business model isgenius—pre-made pizzas ready to grab with no wait. Annual revenue:approximately $4.2 billion.
5. Independent and Regional Chains
Don't sleep on the local spots. Regional chains like Marco's Pizza, HungryHowie's, and countless independent pizzerias make up a huge chunk of themarket. In fact, independent pizzerias account for about 50% of all pizzarestaurants in the U.S.
The Frozen Pizza Market:
Then there's frozen pizza—an entire separate industry worth about $17billion globally. The big names here are:
SEGMENT 3: STORE-BOUGHT VS. HOMEMADEPIZZA
HOST: Now for the main event—what's actually different between store-preparedpizza and homemade?
