Pepperoni and sausage are never going away, but are sour flavors gaining traction in the pizza kitchen? That’s one of the more curious findings in “The Modern Pizza Playbook,” a pizza trends guide released this month by Fuchs Gruppe, a leader in custom seasoning and spice solutions. It takes a look at trending pizza flavors based on data from two different research firms and a survey of 100 pizza customers.
Here is a look at some of the findings:
Sweet & Spicy
- 55% of pizza consumers express interest in pizza products with sweet and spicy flavors.
- 45% are interested in pizzas with spicy flavors.
- Spicy salami is up 25% as a pizza topping the last four years.
- Calabrian chili peppers are up 73% in foodservice over the last four years.
- Hot honey is up 431% in pizza restaurants over the past four years.
- Chipotle aioli has grown 72.79% as a social media topic year over year.
Tangy & Sour
Pickles on pizza aren’t nearly as controversial as they used to be. Besides, if most of us eat pickles on burgers or other sandwiches, why not on pizza, too? Pickled vegetables have shown growth as pizza toppings over the last four years, including:
- Dill pickles are up 105%.
- Pickled red onions are up 32%.
- Pickled jalapeńos are up 24%.
- Intriguingly, 26% of pizza eaters say they’re interested in pizzas with sour flavors.
- 41% are interested in combinations of spicy and sour flavors.
Authentic Italian
Pizza aficionados are also seeking out more authentic Italian ingredients and flavors, the report found, including:
- Stracciatella is up 54%.
- Burrata is up 49%.
- Fior di latte is up 25%.
- Mortadella is up 43%.
- Nduja is up 29%.
- Soppressata is up 14%.
Greek flavors are hot, too, with 44% of pizza consumers saying they’re interested in pizzas featuring Greek ingredients and 45% saying they love or like Mediterranean-inspired pies.
At the same time, 37% said they’re interested in Thai flavors on pizza, and Asian flavors have been generating buzz on social media, with an increase in coversations of 32% year-over-year.
Other up-and-coming ingredients to consider include mornay sauce, fennel pollen, white truffle oil, truffles, figs and brie.
Seventy-three percent of pizza consumers would buy a pizza product with smoky flavor, and social-media conversations about sweet-and-smoky flavor combos for pizza sauces have increased 159% year-over-year.
Finally, fried chicken pizza is projected to grow 172% by 2030, while BBQ pork pizza has grown 99% in the past year and is expected to grow an additional 73% by 2030. And don’t sleep on fried cheese as a pizza ingredient; it’s projected to grow 36% by 2030.
The sources for the Fuchs Gruppe report were Datassential, Tastewise and a survey of 100 pizza consumers.
