By Brian Hernandez
Before Monica from Friends starts assigning Thanksgiving dishes and somebody puts Rachel in charge of dessert, there’s still Wednesday dinner. The refrigerator is full, the kitchen is occupied, and apparently everyone expects to eat today, too. For pizzerias, that familiar holiday predicament comes with some encouraging numbers. New consumer research suggests plenty of Americans are already planning to let somebody else handle the meal before the meal.
In a November 5 report with more Thanksgiving data than I even knew existed, CivicScience found that 46% of respondents were at least somewhat likely to order takeout or delivery for dinner the night before Thanksgiving. That’s up three percentage points from last year. Among Gen Z adults ages 18 to 29, the figure reached 66%.
Those numbers put Wednesday-night pizza dinner firmly into the holiday conversation.
DoorDash’s recent Thanksgiving report carves up a look at what customers actually ordered last year. In 2025, Thanksgiving Eve was its busiest Wednesday for restaurant orders for the second consecutive year, with pizza the most-ordered dinner. Pizza orders ran more than 50% above the average of other November Wednesdays. Cheese pizza orders increased 70%, Hawaiian rose 60%, and pepperoni climbed 50%.
As an aside: Hawaiian pizza is a perfect Thanksgiving meal. Ham and pineapple were a Thanksgiving regular in my house. Just watch out for those sneaky hidden cloves. They can break your teeth while making your body lurch into a laryngospasm. (Google it.)
“Thanksgiving Eve has quietly turned into its own holiday, and almost none of it involves turkey,” said DoorDash consumer trends expert Cristen Milliner. The company’s figures cover orders on its platform, rather than the entire restaurant industry, and reflect 2025 activity. Still, they give this year’s survey findings some useful context. Customers have already demonstrated an appetite for pizza before the holiday feast.
Toast found a similar pattern in its analysis of Thanksgiving Eve 2024. Pizza sales increased 48% compared with an average Wednesday that year, while overall restaurant transactions rose 17%. Dine-in transactions increased 18%, takeout rose 14%, and delivery climbed 9%. Different platforms, different years and different measurements, but all point toward a Wednesday worth watching.
People are arriving, catching up and trying to fit dinner around Thursday’s preparations. Some have survived their own Planes, Trains and Automobiles ordeal, minus the comforting presence of John Candy; asking them to peel potatoes might be how you lose a family member.
For a local pizzeria, those arriving visitors can include former regulars craving a taste of home alongside an easy dinner. Whether they’re collecting pizza for the family or gathering with old friends in your dining room, Wednesday offers a chance to welcome them back to your pizza shop.
There’s also a useful menu detail in DoorDash’s findings: The biggest percentage increase among the three pizza varieties it highlighted belonged to cheese. That doesn’t prove specialty pizzas have no place in the holiday, but it leaves room for a refreshingly uncomplicated offer. A house already negotiating Thursday’s menu might appreciate easy, familiar options on Wednesday.
This year’s Thanksgiving Eve falls on November 25, leaving time for indie pizzeria operators to extend that invitation. The research supports a straightforward proposition: Plenty of people want dinner handled before they tackle the holiday’s main event. Thursday can have the turkey, the good dishes and Rachel’s deeply questionable trifle. Wednesday gets pizza, and nobody has to explain why there’s beef and peas in the dessert.
Brian Hernandez is PMQ’s associate editor and coordinator of PMQ’s U.S. Pizza Team.
