Pizza is one of the most popular food items for quick meals, parties, and gatherings with friends. Almost four in five (78%) in APAC like eating pizza. Throughout the years, we can see an increasing variety of toppings, crusts and even delivery channels.
In view of this, YouGov, an online research firm, polled over 9,000 residents across APAC to explore how and where people prefer to eat their pizza.
In terms of what people like on a pizza, the research finds that the region’s favourite topping is mushrooms, which are a favourite with nearly two thirds of APAC residents (65%). Mushrooms are particularly popular with older generations; 71% of over 55s consider mushrooms to be one of their favourite pizza toppings, compared with 56% of those aged 16-24.
Joining mushrooms as APAC’s most popular pizza toppings are chicken (53%), beef (52%), onions (47%) and pineapple (45%). Meanwhile sweetcorn, tuna, olives and chillies are the least popular of the options given, disliked by 25%, 24%, 22% and 21% of respondents, respectively.
As with liked ingredients, there is a correlation between consumers’ age and the toppings they dislike. For instance, onions are disliked as a pizza topping by more than a fifth of 16-24 year olds (22%) but disliked by just 13% of those over 55.
When it comes to the crust, another generational divide emerges. Cheese-stuffed crusts are the most popular among young people but the least popular among older generations; 40% of 16-24 year olds say their favourite type of crust is cheese-stuffed, almost double the number of those aged 55+ who share the same view (22%). By contrast, the majority of over 55s (51%) prefer thin-crust pizza. Thick crust is the least popular type of crust, favoured by 21% of all respondents.
Pizza on the go is big business, with 55% of those polled preferring to order take away or delivery services over eating pizza in a restaurant. This rises to as much as 81% in Australia, where four-fifths of consumers say their favourite way to eat pizza is to use either takeaway or delivery services.
But despite new technologies offering ever more convenient means of ordering fast food, just one in ten consumers (11%) prefer to use apps to order pizza. Chinese consumers are the most likely to use apps to order pizza delivery, with a quarter of consumers (26%) preferring to use apps to order their delivery. Consumers in Philippines and Thailand are the least likely to use an app as their normal way of ordering; just 4% of those polled do so to order pizza.
Across the region, phoning up is the most widely used means to order pizza, favoured by 44% of those polled, followed by ordering online, used by 29% of respondents.
When it comes to pizza delivery, it seems old habits die hard. App developers and deliveries services take note: it still seems like there’s still a way to go before consumers are ready to switch to new technologies for their Pizza Margherita.
