Pizza Today shares facts about pizza and pizza trivia to impress your pizza fans

National Pizza Month is in October. Study up on pizza, America’s favorite food. How much do you know about pizza? Let’s dive into pizza fun facts. Use these to build a pizza trivia game, quiz with prizes or share on social or in store.

We’ve pulled together interesting pizza-related Fun facts about pizza, pizza history, pizza topping, pizza world records for your next pizza trivia game or pizza quiz.

36 Interesting Pizza-related Fun facts

Here are fun facts about pizza, pizza history, pizza topping, pizza world records and more.

1. There are over 73,000 pizzerias in the U.S. as of 2023. IBISWorld
2. California has the most pizzerias followed by New York and Texas. IBISWorld
3. New York is the No. 1 pizza style offered in the U.S.
4. The Top 5 pizza styles in America are New York, Traditional American, Sicilian, Deep Dish and Neapolitan.
5. Detroit-style pizza is the biggest pizza style trend in the U.S. currently.
6. The most popular pizza topping in America is Pepperoni.
7. The Top 5 Pizza Toppings in America are Pepperoni, Sausage, Mushroom, Extra Cheese and Bacon.
8. In 1905, at 32½ Spring Street, Lombardi’s became the first officially licensed pizzeria in the United States.
9. Chicago-style deep-dish pizza was invented in 1941.
10. According to American Heritage, the number of American pizza parlors grew from 500 in 1934 to 20,000 in 1956.
11. The first Pizza Hut, in fact, was opened in 1958 by Frank and Dean Carney in Wichita, Kansas.
12. 1959 Little Caesars opened in Garden City, Michigan.
13. Domino’s, was born shortly thereafter when brothers Tom and James Monaghan borrowed $500 to purchase DomiNick’s Pizza in Ypsilanti, Michigan, in 1960.
14. Chef Ed LUdou and Wolfgang Puck gave birth to California style artisan pizza in 1980.
15. International Pizza Expo, the largest gathering of pizza professionals launched in Las Vegas, Nevada.
16. National Pizza Month was created in October to mark the first issue of Pizza Today magazine in 1984.
17. The U.S. Congress officially designated October as National Pizza Month in 1987.
18. In 1889, Don Raffaele Esposito created the Margherita Pizza, which is adorned with nothing but tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and basil, in honor of Margherita Teresa Giovanni, who was the Italian Queen at the time.
19. The word pizza originated in Gaeta, Italy in 997 AD according to food historian Giuseppe Nocca in La Repubblica.
20. Antica Pizzeria Port’Alba in Naples, Italy is widely believed to be the world’s first pizzeria, opened in 1830.
21. Americans eat three billion pizzas per year.
22. The average American eats 180 slices of pizza a year
23. The average American consumes 11 pounds of mozzarella a year, more than any other cheese. It is attributed to the demand for pizza.
24. The biggest pizza sales days are Super Bowl Sunday, Halloween, the day before Thanksgiving, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
25. The traditional pizza box was invented in 1964 by a New York-based pizza shop.
26. In 2001, a pizza was delivered to the International Space Station, making it the first pizza to be eaten in space.
27. The largest pizza party with 3,357 participants, and was achieved by World Pizza Champions (USA) in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, on January 21, 2023.
28. The Longest Pizza in the World measures 6,3333 feet and 3.60 inches. Roughly 17,700 pounds of dough, 5,000 pounds of tomato sauce and 3,900 pounds of mozzarella cheese were used to make the pizza that took 54 hours by a team of over 100 people. The Guinness World Record was set by Pizzaovens.com, Venice Bakery, Orlando Foods, At-Pac, Sysco, TFX Non Stick, Capstone Scaffold Services, Scaffold Works, SoCal Gas, Tony Gemignani, Giulio Adriani, John Arena and Italforni in Fontana, California, USA, in 2017.
29. The Largest Pizza Commercially Available measures 8 feet by 2 feet and 8 inches from Moontower Pizza Bar in Burleson, Texas. When the record was set in 2018, the pizza retailed for $299.95 plus tax.
30. The Largest Pizza Delivery was 30,000 pizzas delivered to United States Armed Forces, in Kandahar Airfield, Bagram Airbase and Camp Bastion, in Afghanistan, on July 4, 2012. The delivery was organized by Pizzas 4 Patriots.
31. The Highest Pizza Toss is 21 feet and 5 inches set by Joe Carlucci in 2006.
32. The Largest Pizza Base Spun in One Minute at 28.35 inches is also held by Joe Carlucci set in 2017.
33. The Largest Pizza Base Spun in Three Minutes is 33.2 inches wide and was set by Tony Gemignani in 2006.
34. The Most Pizza Boxes Folded in One Minute is 18 and set by Randy DeGregorio in 2020.
35. The Largest Collection of Pizza Boxes was set in 2013 with 595 different boxes by Scott Wiener.
36. The most varieties of cheese on a pizza is 1,001, by Fabien Montellanico, Sophie Hatat Richart-Luna, Florian OnAir and Benoît Bruel, at Déliss’ Pizza in Lyon, France, on October 8, 2023.

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