Have you ever wondered how much work goes into having a successful pizza joint? During Pizza Week, we are talking with some of the busier pizzerias in Chicago to find out how much food they go through in a single week or month.
As Pizza Week winds down, we are wrapping things up with one last By the Numbers post, focusing on three super high-volume spots: Roots Handmade Pizza, Giordano's and Lou Malnati's. While Roots' numbers reflect how much goes on at the West Town independent shop in a given week, both Giordano's and Lou's go much bigger, taking into account multiple shops across their chains in a month, or in some cases, a year.
What Roots Handmade Pizza goes through in a week:
· Pounds of pizza dough = 800
· Pounds of mozzarella = 1,100
· Pounds of tomato paste = 125
· Number of fresh tomatoes = 750
· Number of red peppers = 550
· Pounds of sausage = 350
· Pounds of pepperoni = 70
· Pounds of mushrooms = 150
· Pounds of onions = 130
· Bags of taco-seasoned tortilla chips for Taco pizza = 40
· Orders of mozzarella sticks = 550
What Giordano's goes through in a month or year across their Chicagoland stores:
· Pounds of cheese used in a month: 270,000
· Pounds of cheese used in a year: 3,240,000
· Amount of sauce used in a month (total): 18,917 gallons
· Amount of sauce used in a year (total): 227,008 gallons
· Pounds of pepperoni used in a year: 165,000
· Pounds of mushrooms in a month: 8,464
· Pounds of mushrooms in a year: 101,565
· Most popular ingredient: sausage
· Most popular appetizer: fried calamari (8,564 cases per year)
· Second most popular app: mozzarella stix (7,535 cases per year)
· Number of pizzas shipped nationwide in 2011: 26,888
What Lou Malnati's goes through in a year:
· Pounds of dough: 4,300,000
· Pounds of cheese: 2,500,000
· Pounds of sausage: 800,000
· Bushels of tomatoes: 150,000