   Small Pizza Shops
  What is with all of these little, tiny pizza shops that you see around? In my teeming metropolis of a whopping 50,000 people (ZOMG) there are at least 20 places you can go to get a pizza, including three Pizza Huts and two Dominoes Pizza. There are so many of them, how do they stay in business? Some of them make really good pizza, some of them make really crappy pizza, rarely do any close. I'm not complaining, all this competition has led to excellent lunch deals (two slices and a large drink for $3.00), I'm just perplexed.   
  Ummm, Americans like their pizza?   ;  So there are 2,5k potential customers for every pizzeria. Paris has four times that number (10k) but then again I suspect a cultural bias (the number of potential customers for a Japanese/Chinese restaurant is about 2,5k in Paris).;  I've never been able to understand how crappy pizza places stay in business. There was one smack dab in the "high rent" block of downtown, whose only business surely was limited to people who ate there once and then never again and was in the running for the longest health violation record (just behind a Chinese deli restaurant where the proprietor physically assaulted health inspectors).However, I do significantly prefer the 'family pizza' joints to Pizza Hut/Dominos - the quality of the food is higher for the money and the atmosphere is much better. It also helps that most of them around here sell copious amounts of booze.   ;  It's probably because those crappy pizza places are extremely cheap, which is great for college students who don't have a lot of money to spend and might not really care about the quality of their food.  I've heard countless stories from friends about some godawful pizza place close to where they live that they eat at simply because it's dirt cheap.  Maybe there's a better pizza place a few more blocks away but it always comes down to a matter of price and convenience -- where's the closest, cheapest place for me to get food (perhaps at 1 AM)?  Plus you'd be surprised at the number of people in general who just don't know the difference between good food and bad food in the first place, which I'm sure is another factor that helps keep those terrible places in business.That being said, I was lucky to have a really good pizza place down the street from where I lived at school.  Also helped that they had an entire wall of booze [grin]   ;  Do you guys have Hungry Howie's around you? That's the best pizza ever. I have it like every other week since it's 200 feet from my house.This thread also reminds me of a pizza place called "Foxes" or something. It was the thinnest greasiest pizza ever. It was impossible to order it twice. Didn't even taste like pizza. The sides were burned and soggy. That place went out of business so quickly.   ;Quote:Original post by RavuyaI've never been able to understand how crappy pizza places stay in business. There was one smack dab in the "high rent" block of downtown, whose only business surely was limited to people who ate there once and then never again and was in the running for the longest health violation record (just behind a Chinese deli restaurant where the proprietor physically assaulted health inspectors).Dang, which place was that?I would have thought it was staying in business either by selling 'shroom' pizzas or by selling pizza to all the crack/alcohol addicts downtown.   ;  I have found over the years that what one person considers a 'crappy pizza', someone else really loves.  Some like it cheesy, some like it saucy, some like the sauce sweeter than others, etc. etc. etc.And they never shut down because it costs almost nothing to run a pizza place.  One or two ovens, ingredients are cheap, and so is labor because you can get away with maybe 4 employees (if you're busy) and some drivers who you barely have to pay (jobs where tips are expected compensation allow employers to pay the employee a lot less).   ;  There's a pizza place right next to my school's campus, and pretty much everyone is crazy about it. It has great food, a fun, lively atmosphere, and a stellar location right off the edge of campus with its own parking lot (a big deal in a larger city where business are cramped together with little space in between).   ;  There was a great little pizza shop called Atlantic Pizza here in Park City.  They made the only good philly cheesesteak sandwitch I've ever had outside of Pennsylvania.  Unfortunately, they went out of business last year :-(There's another little pizza shop around the corner from my office.  Some coworkers think it's the greatest pizza ever made.  It's way, way too greasy for me.  Like, thoroughly soak three napkins with grease on one slice before I can eat it.   