Well, for one thing, many major cities that have good pizza mostly serve people who are walking or using public transportation.
I don't live in a major city, but I can tell you my experience living on the East Coast and MidWest. When I left the East Coast in 2005, there were no drive through pizza shop chains or mom and pops. Most of the mom and pop places were restaurants where people usually dined-in but also offered delivery. If someone came there, they were eating there. Most chains did delivery and had walk-in pickup.
I moved to the Midwest in 2006, and Donatos was the only chain place.. and still is.. that had a drive through window. There is 1 local place that built one recently. Pizza Hut, if people go there usually eat in. Dominoes is all strip mall locations in my area, and they all have seating now. Papa Johns is all walk-in. Other local chains and independent places mostly have table service with servers, and most people actually sit down and eat, have beer, watch sports, etc. They usually offer delivery, and that's what most people do when they eat it at home. I only do pickup because most of these places are 2-3 miles from my house, and the delivery fees have skyrocketed, I always tip at least 5 bucks or so. So, it's more convenient for me to just go pickup a pizza (usually walking to a counter) from the chains. It's faster and costs at least $8 less. I have used the Donatos window.
reply
share