We Finally Know Why Little Caesars Pizza Is So Cheap

Why do people go to Little Caesars? Well, maybe they like the food. Maybe it's the convenience of being able to get a hot dinner quickly. But perhaps more than any other reason, you can get a pizza there for very little money. Sure, the price of a Hot-N-Ready increased from $5 to $5.55 recently, but that's still really cheap compared to other pizza options out there.

How do they manage to make a profit with such low-price offerings? Ingredients are part of the equation, but there are other factors at play, too. We did some digging, and we finally know why Little Caesars pizza is so cheap.

#LittleCaesars #Pizza #Cheap

[MashedFood]

What do you think about Little Caesars?

[yuhyuh]

Been a cook for 7 years, started at little Caesars and you'd be surprised how many other pizzerias use the same ingredients and charge 3x as much.

[ezrapark]

This place saved me when I was living on minimum wage seven years ago. I was renting a place with no kitchen. Two pizzas a week. The line was out of the door. Keep doing it Little Caesars.

[Sypherz]

I feel Little Caesars nailed their niche and uses their resources wisely. Most pizza places fail in their crust - it's like eating cardboard. I love Little Caesars crust; it tastes fresh. Their Crazy Bread is comfort food. Their cheese is actually decent and not super greasy, but still melty. Their sauce is well balanced. I'm not expecting gourmet pizza for $5. It's a really good pizza at a really great price.

[neilyaremchuk]

LC has 100% control of their distribution system and the process is streamlined to include only one size pizza and even limited toppings. That’s how they can make a $5.55 pizza. It’s no frills and it is what it is, take it or leave it.

[Do_Worrk]

I worked at Dominos in college and they used the same cost-cutting tactics when it came to ingredients (although the dough is refrigerated and shipped in by a distribution center), but they charge far more for the pizza. Little Caesars only gets hate because cheap = bad in a lot of people's minds...

[lightbox]

It's a rarety in US businesses to actually pass along cost savings to the customer

[bobsaget]

Pizza Hut uses frozen sauce that they just add water to also. Their toppings are very similar, especially the directions on how much to add to each pizza (they have cups specifically to measure each topping, and actually count the number of pepperonis used per pizza). Yet, unlike LC, they use frozen dough that is thawed out before being cooked. And Pizza Hut is twice the price... so let that sink in. Never understood the hate for LC, their prices are great and their pizza is actually fresher than other chain's pizza.

[TheMrLebaron]

What I like about Little Caesars is that, they dont pretend to be something they aren't. Its cheap pizza and and in a pinch its fine. The Mrs and I order a small Bacon and Pep Pizza for me, greek Salad for her and cheesecake from a good local place. Comes out to like 23 dollars. For people with kids? Waste of money, a kid doesn't know or care the difference between a 5 dollar pizza and a 20 dollar pizza

[dorrin]

They skimp on cost but make a surprisingly good product.

You have to hand it to them: they found a business model that works.

[Cardbordboxonfire]

They’re a life saver. When you have a family to feed. For $10-15 you’re done. Unlike going somewhere else you’ll pay that for one meal.
If I want a premium pizza, I’ll pay for one. I love that they’re openly a bargain pizza place. And nothing more, and they’re not trying to over price their food.

A good comparison is your local Chinese restaurant or one you find at the food court at the mall. They give you a to-go tray over stuffed with chicken and rice for $8-10 and it’s enough for 2 people. But if you go to Panda Express… it’s over $10 for a bowl
And it’s at best 1/3 the portion of the small chain Chinese food.
That’s because it’s cheap to make Chinese food.
Places like panda are just price gouging

[TinkersKustomPaintball]

I worked for a Little Caesars for 5 years through high school and a little bit past and literally everything here is true. The sauce comes in a box with 4- 3 liter bags and 2 bags are split between a large lexan bain marie and a proprietary spice blend is added with 2 and a half liters of water to make 8 and a half liters of sauce roughly and one container of sauce could stretch between 20-30 pizzas roughly if the make line people used the proper amount and spread it evenly. The cheese we used was all the same, a mozzarella and muenster blend, for every pizza whether it was a HNR or a custom made item so that's the only part that was a bit incorrect but only marginally and was measured with different sized cups such as an 8 cup for a large/ 5 for each size of a deep dish/ Italian cheese bread/ Gold cup for any of the Extra Most Bestest line of pizzas. The toppings we were always told to apply evenly and sparingly whether it was 30 pepperoni per pizza (more for the Extra Most Bestest which I can't remember the exact number off the top of my head anymore) and only the correct sized measuring cup of other toppings which varied from each pizza build guide. My boss was incredibly knitpicky with the money coming in and going out of the store so she'd be in every other day checking that everyone was building product correctly and using only the proper amounts of toppings. The dough is made in-house and one batch of dough could make 40 sheetouts (40 pizza bases) and 60 orders of crazy bread as the cutting procedure was set at 15oz dough balls for pizzas and 10oz balls for crazy bread. Once the dough was mixed, weighed, and separated it was put into the walk in where it was supposed to sit for at least 24 hours but a lot of the time it would be pulled early and used before it could proof thus causing that "cardboard" texture that people often ALWAYS use to describe a bad pizza crust. A properly proofed and handled dough round will always make a really nice fluffy crust but with the usual high mass ordering (usually between 5-10 pizzas at once was a normal thing for my store) that was associated with Little Caesars we would go through all the proofed product in a short amount of time and have to start using partial proofed dough which created a lesser crust. The deep dish dough is made in the same fashion as the normal dough base with the exception that we didn't use vegetable oil or the proprietary yeast mix that other dough used and instead we substituted cold water for warm and used a very active baker's yeast to get a really fluffy (it literally grew to double the size on the table as you were cutting it) dough that we put in the deep dish pans with a special oil that gave the dough an inherent garlic/butter flavor that sadly kind of gets lost through all the other ingredients on the pizza. Through all the years I worked for a LC store and between all the other pizza places I still honestly prefer Little Caesars since I know the dough is always made fresh in-house and never comes frozen, the cheese never comes frozen, and I honestly think our sauce was better than anyone else's even though its a cheaper and more economic sauce recipe.

[RGT]

Because God knew that we were struggling down here so he blessed us with Little Caesers.

[hobbes]

When I was a kid in the 90s they used to have slices for 25 cents and a large pizza was $3. We used to pool our money together, mostly quarters we found on the ground, ride our bikes to the store and then balance the giant box on our handlebars on the way home. Back in the day

[grumblekin]

My town flooded and the Little Caesars nearby was the only place that was open. Got 2 pizzas and lived on them for a week,

I’ll always be grateful for that

[RndmBad]

I used to work as an assistant manager at a pizza hut and will always prefer little ceasar's just due to the simple fact that they make their dough in house. The taste is undeniably better. The list of places I will spend more than $8 on a pizza is very small and none of the major chains are on that list.

[MrOfficer]

Having a family of 4 we really appreciate LC for staying budget friendly during these crazy times. 2 Hot n Ready are our go to for Friday/Saturday nights. Thanks again LC for staying true. Delicious.

[PizzaBoi]

I worked at little caesar's for two years in college and although the work sucked, the smoothness of their operation could not be matched by many restaurants. I learnt some good lessons in that place.

[jdfreeman]

I managed Little Caesars restaurants for corporate and franchise locations. Most of what this video says is wrong. All pizzas get the mozzarella and munster mix. The sauce is not just add water. They get in pouches of tomatoes and add the seasoning and water in the restaurants. Also, most franchises add a bit extra on the toppings, while corporate will penalize stores for skimping on product. I no longer work for the company, so I have no skin in the game. I just don't like seeing what I know is a smear campaign

[jimmyd]

This place saved me when I was struggling a few years back. 5 dollars you got dinner, love it