Two slices of pizza and a pop
I’m always puzzled by the most disparate questions. Not long ago (e.g. one post ago) I was pondering the virtues of social media in crime prevention. But this post, I’ve been really itching to write for a long time now. You’ll see, I’m not a nutritionist, but my minor in undergraduate (Chemical Engineering) was Food Science. So I’ve always had a soft spot for food (and more importantly, food technology).
I did take a course in Human Nutrition, but it was so long ago that I really don’t remember much. So the question I often ponder is why are lunch combos mostly 2 slices of pizza and a pop?. It seems to me as though two slices of pizza is just about the amount of food that would satisfy someone for lunch (and even perhaps for dinner). This may sound like a totally stupid question or point to ponder, but I’ve always wondered. Or for example, why are other combo’s like Tim Horton’s “bowl of soup and a piece of bread” or “bowl of soup and a sandwich”?
Does anybody ever stop to ponder this? (I know, there’s a lot of suffering in the world and I feel even a tad embarrassed to be writing about this, but it’s a question I often ask myself, particularly as I teach undergraduates and it seems as though many of my students would grab a slice of pizza or two and a drink for lunch.
Related posts:
- Olympia Pizza and Pasta Restaurant (Denman Street)
- The Boston Pizza experience
- Unwell
- Eatery review – Uncle Fatih’s Pizza (Commercial and Broadway)
- Restaurant review – Incendio Pizzeria
If you were considering buying one slice it encourages you to buy two instead.
i don’t get it…
maybe b/c 1 slice is too little and 3 is too many?
also, soup and sandwiches or soup and bread go together naturally…
but hey, thinking too much is better than too little, right?
It’s all about the ‘upsell’ for the Pizza place. $$$$
It’s called the Theory of Marginal Utility. My MBA included at least a 15-minute discussion of how it applies to pizza. Let’s say one slice of pizza leaves you pretty satisfied, to the sum of $3. A second slice of pizza is not unappealing, but also not entirely appealing. You’re not sure you even want a whole piece. So it’s only worth $1.50 to you. As for a cold Coke, you could kinda take or leave it, but for 50c, it’s a steal. Thus the $5 pizza lunch.
This is also the theory behind 2 for 1 pizza places. You’re more likely to hear about 2 for 1 pizza and marginal utility than lunch combos and marginal utility.
As for the other kinds of lunch combos, I guess it’s because people can see themselves eating a few slices of pizza, but they might seem a bit gluttony if they had two sandwiches.