• Slice’s State of Local Pizza report surveyed the tech platform’s network of 14,000 independent local pizzerias nationwide.
• It found a 106 percent increase in vegan pizza orders last year, while pizzeria lunch deals jumped by 39 percent.
• Nearly 450,000 Slice-affiliated pizza shop customers felt adventurous and tried a new pizza in 2020.

Pizzerias began offering significantly more lunch deals last year while the demand for vegan pizza soared, according to the new State of Local Pizza report issued by tech platform Slice.

The report uses data collected over the course of 2020 from Slice’s network of more than 14,000 independent local pizzerias nationwide.

The report found that pizzerias increased their lunch-deal offerings by 39 percent in response to the pandemic, especially targeting people who were working from home.

Slice-affiliated pizza shops also reported a 106 percent increase in vegan pizza orders, suggesting that the vegan pizza movement is quickly picking up steam.

Related: Get more news, articles and insights about the vegan pizza movement at PizzaVegan.com!

Not surprisingly, 5 p.m. on Friday nights was the most popular time to order pizza in 2020. The most popular pizza toppings for the year were pepperoni with extra cheese, pepperoni with mushrooms and pepperoni with sausage.

“Local pizza faced many ups and downs in 2020,” said Slice Founder and CEO Ilir Sela, “but as we say at Slice, ‘You can’t stop pizza.’ From the beginning, Slice has been committed to serving these shops as first-party partners to help ensure their success by helping to create a dependable and rewarding experience for their customers.”

“Independent pizzeria owners don’t get into the business because they particularly love marketing or accounting,” Sela added. “They start a pizzeria because they are makers and artists. I’m glad that, in a particularly tough year, Slice could continue to support these shops by taking on some of the back-of-house work so these makers can focus on what they love to do.”

Other interesting factoids from the report:

• Local pizzerias in the U.S. employ 816,615 people—more than the number of people living in Boston or Seattle.
• Nearly 450,000 Slice-affiliated pizzeria customers tried a new pizza in 2020.
• But pineapple-topped pizzas weren’t high on their list. Pineapple pizzas accounted for only 0.017 percent of the total orders last year.
• Unusual pizzas offered in the Slice network of restaurants included the Kimchi and Tofu Pizza at Star Karaoke in Savoy, Illinois; the Big Dill Pickle Pizza at Slices Pizza in Melbourne, Florida; and the Chicken and Waffles Pizza at Krave It in Bayside, New York.

The State of Local Pizza report also found that 100 percent of shops in the Slice network added curbside pickup and/or contactless delivery in 2020.

Meanwhile, Slice’s Pizza vs. Pandemic campaign received more than $731,000 in donations to feed more than 234,000 people at care centers in all 50 states. And Pizza to the Polls, which provided free pizza to voters waiting in long lines during last year’s election season, raised $1.5 million and dispatched 69,836 pies.