Pizzeria visits up 49% since January - Interview

 Deep dish, thin crust, cheese or pepperoni - no matter how you slice it, people love pizza. Pizza restaurants have seen an increase in foot traffic of 49% nationwide since the beginning of 2021 according to the data scientists at brick-and-mortar marketing expert Zenreach. 

Here’s the surprising things Zenreach learned:

• Los Angeles has seen an increase of 156% pizza lovers in stores, and California as a whole saw a lift of 119.69%.
• Chicago saw an increase of 85% just beating out New York who saw an increase of just 82%.
• Phoenix trailed behind the nationwide average of 49% with just a 5% increase in foot traffic. Arizona is only up 3.90% overall. 
• While Chicago is beating New York City, state wise New York has seen an increase of 92.18%, beating Illinois’ lift of 79.66%.
• Texas saw a surprising lift of 29.42%, and Florida saw just an 8.84% increase since the start of the year. 

“Nationwide, we have seen an increase of 49% in restaurant foot-traffic this year to pizza and Italian restaurants which bodes well for our economy. With indoor mask mandates starting to lift, Zenreach expects these numbers will continue to increase.” says Megan Wintersteen, VP of Marketing for Zenreach.

I had a chance to interview VP of marketing, Megan Wintersteen, to learn more.

1. Why did this data choose to specifically look at pizzerias?
   We looked at pizzerias specifically because out of the entire restaurant category, they were one of the least impacted by the pandemic. For instance, while the restaurant industry as a whole finished the year $240 billion below pre-pandemic sales estimates, pizza restaurant sales only saw a slight change from $46.34B in 2019 to $46.24B in 2020. Moreover, despite the decline, sales were still higher in 2020 than they were each year between 2012 and 2018. We attribute their continued success to the fact that pizza establishments were already leveraging delivery as part of their normal business model, which allowed them to weather the pandemic restrictions more seamlessly than other restaurant types.
   
   
2. What factors are contributing to the rise in visits to pizzerias?
   The biggest driver for the rise in visits to pizzerias is easing restrictions and overall increase in consumer confidence being driven by declining COVID numbers and vaccinations. We're particularly seeing spikes in foot traffic in areas when the mask mandate is no longer in effect.
   
   
3. What implications does this data have for consumers?
   From a business perspective, the data is offering a strong cue to business owners that it's time to expand business hours, hire additional staff, and re-initiate marketing -- as consumers are going to have more and more options as more restaurants start to open. From a consumer perspective, the data is indicating that comfort levels are rising and that we are starting to return to some sense of normalcy.