What’s the history of pizza deliveries?
Pizza deliveries are one of the most popular takeaways Westerners love to order to their doors. With the wide range of bases and toppings now available, you really can’t go wrong with a pizza delivery to mark the weekend or help you get through the week.
Nowadays, it’s difficult to imagine a world without them. But, long before Deliveroo and UberEats, there was once a first ever pizza delivery.
Pizza Delivery No. 1
The first ever recorded pizza delivery occurred in 1889, when Queen Margherita of Savoy fell ill after eating rotten food in Naples. Left hungry and in need of better quality food, the queen and King Umberto I of Italy decided to request authentic Italian pizza be sent to them.
Chef Raffaele Esposito, the best pizziola in the region, was appointed the daunting task of creating a pizza great enough for royalty. Inspired by the colours of the Italian flag, he served a pizza topped with mozzarella, basil and tomatoes, and because royals weren’t expected to retrieve their food themselves, he personally delivered it to the king and queen.
Not only did this mark the first ever pizza delivery but also the origin of the classic Margherita pizza we all know and love today.
‘Hello, can I please order a pizza?’
However, it wasn’t until just after WWII that pizza delivery picked up internationally. War soldiers returned home dreaming of the pizza they’d tasted overseas, while the rest of the country now had some more money for indulgent purchases.
In the US, pizzerias started offering “take-out” options and those in major cities like LA and New York started providing delivery services.
But as pizza delivery became more widespread, businesses began to realise they needed better transportation solutions for this warm, steaming food. Thankfully, in 1960, Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino’s Pizza, invented the corrugated cardboard pizza box, which allowed pizzas to be stacked while also still able to vent out steam, preventing the delivery of damp pizzas.
By 1997, online pizza orders became available, creating the biggest peak in pizza deliveries due to the convenience of this method. Now, you could order pizza to your door without even having to speak to anyone. Later, the development of food delivery apps like Deliveroo and UberEats made it even easier to get pizza delivered to your door in sheer minutes.
Get the taste of Eco delivered straight to your door
Today, there are so many methods of pizza delivery available, whether you prefer to order on an app, click and collect or even receive your dinner via a computer-controlled roving vehicle.
While we’ve not quite jumped on the latter yet, you can have Eco’s pizza delivered to you in a variety of ways.
Order Eco’s delicious sourdough pizzas on Deliveroo or UberEats.
Or call and collect by calling us at:
Clapham: 020 7978 1108
