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Editor’s note: This article is part 1 of the Pizza Power Report 2025. You can scroll down to the bottom to navigate to other sections of the report.
By Rick Hynum and Charlie Pogacar
When Fran Garcia first decided to open his own pizzeria—the celebrated Artichoke Basille’s Pizza in New York City—in 2008, he got some unexpected advice from a fellow restaurateur: Don’t do it. And, mind you, that restaurateur was his own mother. “She said, ‘The rent is too high. There’s a friggin’ pizza place on every corner. They’re gonna chew you up and spit you out,’” Garcia recalled in a recent interview on Peel: A PMQ Pizza Podcast.
Garcia was just another pizza guy, making artichoke pies at his mom’s Staten Island restaurant and giving slices away for free to get customers hooked. But he and his cousin, Sal Basille, had bigger dreams. Yes, there was pizza aplenty in New York, Garcia told his mother. But his was better. “I said, ‘That pizza sucks. I’m going to sell more pizza than anybody. We’re going to be famous.’”
Garcia and Basille went on to star in The Cooking Channel’s Pizza Masters and Pizza Cuz while steering Artichoke Basille’s to countless accolades and 13 locations in New York, New Jersey and California. “One thing I learned about business,” the now-famous Garcia said, “is don’t [expletive] listen to anybody.”
That might be an overstatement, but take it in the spirit in which it’s intended. Every year, the pizza industry brings new challenges. As this year’s annual Pizza Power Report demonstrates, 2024 was no exception, and the same will go for 2025. Yet the industry keeps thriving because pizzeria operators keep rising to the occasion, because pizza itself is both trend-resistant and adaptable to new trends—and it never gets boring. According to Datassential’s Pizza Keynote Report, released in October, 66% of consumers reported eating a pie within the last week, and 87% said they’re eating more or the same amount of pizza as last year.
With demand like that, Garcia’s right: Don’t let anyone tell you there’s too much pizza out there. Looking back at 2024 shows us that the field is still wide open—perhaps more than ever—for pizzeria owners and pizza chefs with ambition, drive and creativity. Granted, an IBISWorld report, released in September, found that pizza restaurant revenue has been falling at a CAGR of 2.4% over the past five years. However, the report estimates a 1.4% increase in 2024, which should see overall revenue reaching $50.1 billion.
“Competition is fierce, as opening a new pizza restaurant is fairly inexpensive, and demand for pizza is somewhat evergreen,” IBISWorld notes. “Successful restaurants must ensure they carve a niche for themselves in the crowded market.”
To do that in 2025, you might have to learn a new trick or two (nationwide shipping, for example, and better employee interviewing skills). And running your pizzeria will still demand constant adaptation, quick problem solving, and a mastery of both the art of pizza making and the cold, hard calculus of business management.
But, hey, you’re up for the task. Remember media mogul Ted Turner, founder of CNN? Probably so. Did you know that he started a bunch of other networks that bombed? Turner was often quoted as saying, “I’m not losing. I’m learning how to win.” The fact that you’re still in business as 2024 grinds to an end means you’ve been learning that same lesson, too.
Yes, it was a rough-and-tumble year that saw multiple bankruptcy filings among small pizza chains, including Buca di Beppo in August, Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza & Wings in September, Oath Pizza in November, and, perhaps most shockingly, a close call for MOD Pizza, once the fastest-growing restaurant chain in the country. Not to mention the struggles of Pizza Hut franchisee EYM Pizza, which filed for bankruptcy in July and will sell more than 125 stores as it undergoes financial restructuring.
But you’re still here, still learning to win. So is Fran Garcia, by the way. In fact, he has a new solo concept, Panko Pizza, that’s going strong in Middletown, New Jersey. “If you’re willing to friggin’ do it and break your ass and risk it all, go,” Garcia says. “Listen to no one. Go with your heart. But you should have a little bit of a road map and somebody you could call and ask questions to, because you could get hurt very bad.”
“I’m blessed to be doing something that I love,” Garcia adds. “But, I mean, I have a lot of friggin’ headaches, man.”
Addressing those headaches is what this year’s Pizza Power Report is all about. We invite you to download the full report here for free or peruse individual articles, charts and rankings at the links below. As always, our goal is to give you moneymaking insights, ideas and tips to adapt to changing trends, improve your operations, grow your pizzeria business and sell more pizza in the new year!
NAVIGATING THE PIZZA POWER REPORT 2025
How Independents Keep Learning to Win vs. the Big Chains
Major Chains Lean into Value in So-Called ‘Pizza Wars’
Good Help Is Easier to Find With Some Creative Strategies
How Smart Technologies Can Ease Pizzerias’ Labor Problems
Venturing into the Frozen Frontier to Build a National Pizza Brand
C-Stores Are Taking ‘Gas Station Pizza’ to a New Level
America’s Most Popular Independent Pizzerias (Per Crowd-Sourced Reviews)
America’s 25 Most Critically Acclaimed Independent Pizzerias
The Top 30 Pizza Chains in the U.S.
The Top 10 Trending Pizza Styles for 2025
The Top Pizza Ingredients and Fastest-Growing Ingredients for 2025
