Your Big Game Pizza Might Be More Expensive, and It's Not Just Inflation - CNET

If you buy one of the more than 12 million pizzas expected to be ordered on Sunday, you may notice it's more expensive than it was during last year's Super Bowl. Manufacturers and restaurants are facing higher prices for many ingredients and passing that cost on to customers. 

Tomato paste is up 36.3% from this time last year, according to data from commodities market intelligence firm Mintec, which reports that higher energy costs associated with vegetable processing, storage and delivery are to blame.

An ongoing drought in the Great Plains has continued to spike the price of wheat for pizza dough, with Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine stymying wheat exports from both countries. 

The cost of cheese has also increased thanks to supply chain disruptions, labor shortages and higher prices for animal feed, according to Mintec. Milk production is down as dairy farmers who thinned herds during the pandemic continue to get back to normal. As a result, a wholesale pound of mozzarella is now $2.54, compared with $2.22 in February 2022.

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"It's not just the cost of ingredients that's gone up," said Terrence Morash, vice president of brand and creative for Slice, a pizza delivery platform for more than 19,000 independent pizzerias. "It's also the cost of cardboard and bags for delivery. And small restaurants have had to raise compensation to retain reliable staff."

According to Slice's new report on its member restaurants, the price of a large cheese pizza rose year-over-year in all but five states. Nationwide, the average price for a pie rose more than a dollar -- from $16.74 in 2021 to $17.81 in 2022.

"Pizzerias have a very thin profit margin -- these are mom-and-pop shops, with, like five or 10 part-time employees," Morash said. "They can't afford to eat the cost, so it gets passed on."

Overall, inflation on food items is up 10.4%, according to December's Consumer Price Index, the most recent report available. But not every menu item is being hit equally: The wholesale price of chicken wings has gone down 22% since Super Bowl 2022.

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