Little Caesars is raising the price of its famous Hot-N-Ready pizza after almost a quarter century.
The pizza chain, which first introduced the signature deal in 1997, is raising the price on the Hot-N-Ready pizza from $5 to $5.55, according to Forbes. In an interview, CEO David Scrivano cited rising labor and commodity costs as an impetus for the price change.
“There are all kinds of pressures on businesses these days,” Scrivano said. “We still want to deliver the best product at the best value to our customers.”
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Although the price of the pizza will increase, the pizza chain will be offering 33% more pepperoni on its pizza, even as the price of pepperoni has increased by over 50% during the pandemic. Scrivano said that while other pizza chains were “decreasing their portions and increasing their prices,” Little Caesars wanted to make the pizza “even better” and add “more to it.”
Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, Little Caesars started a “Pizza Portal” that allows customers to pick up pizzas by scanning a QR code. The pizza chain began offering delivery in January 2020 and saw delivery sales jump in 2021.
“As delivery grows and contactless pickup grows, those are methods we never had in the past, and they provide more options for today’s customers,” Scrivano said. “We think that customers are going to be attracted by 33% more pepperoni and the ability to leverage those two channels. The purpose is to attract more customers.”
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In another sign of the times in the United States, where the pandemic has been coupled with a supply chain crisis, Dollar Tree announced in the fall of last year that it would start charging $1.25 for its products.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Little Caesars for further comment.
