Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Domino’s Pizza is now selling handmade pan pizza. The move comes nearly two years after the success of its revamped pizza recipe and at a time when the $36-billion U.S. restaurant pizza industry is finally growing. The industry was hit hard by the economic downturn, as well as by the growth of frozen, rising-crust pizza sales, but has expanded in the past two years.
Among the big chains, Pizza Hut practically owns the pan pizza market, which accounts for a fat slice of its business. But consumers like pan pizza, which is similar to deep dish, but not typically as lavish. So Domino’s is banking on getting a bigger slice of the pie. Some 52% of consumers say they sometimes order deep dish, in a recent consumer survey from Technomic, the restaurant research firm. Pan pizza's popularity is only a few percentage points behind top-ranked, hand-tossed pizza. Technomic says men 35 to 44 years old crave pan pizza the most, and it's preferred by folks living in the Midwest and Northeast.