What would you pay?
 

Right now, at the pizza shop I work at, the delivery charge is $2.50. It has been at $2.50 since just after Hurricane Katrina--September 2005. At the time, gas rose to $3.19. Since then, gas has dropped down as low as $1.95, and is currently $3.87.

We might have the highest delivery charge of any place I know...most places charge from $1 to $2.

What's a fair cost for delivering food to you?

For a $10 pizza?

Our average order is $22.

Minus the delivery fee--$19.50.

I'm buying frozen pizzas now, won't pay them charges.

[comic Philly-NYC-Jersey voice] It's domestic! It's DiGiorno! It's not delivery! We can buy gas! [/voice]

Pizza delivery is free here.
I don't doubt the cost is built into the prices.

A pizza for two costs over $22 with no sides...

Our pizza prices have gone up twice in the past year...normally, they're only raised once--in July.

Our 16" cheese pizza is $12.99; each additional topping is $2.50. The 14" and 16" pizzas are buy one get one free. If you order just one, it's pro-rated. A two-topping 16" pizza is $10.99.

Our largest pizza is 13.5"
Basic cheese is £9.99 inc delivery (just under $20)
Each topping £1.25 ($3)

That's the most expensive pizza company (Dominos) They do deals sometimes, but usually collection only.
There are some local generic ones which are cheaper, but lower quality.

Sigh.

Do delivery places charge for delivery? I never noticed.

I get my pizza take-out from a little place around the corner called Charlie's. There's a picture of a guy on the sign, and when you walk in, that's the guy making your pizza, and his name is Charlie. And you're like "Hey, Charlie" and he's like "Hey, [your name]" because he knows who you are.

Last order I made was two medium pies, one mushroom and one white with garlic, and mozzarella sticks. $36. Actually paid $45, through my policy of *vastly* overtipping pizza delivery people. ("Let's see, that's about $40... 20% would be $8... but I don't have any ones, so keep it")

There is no addl delivery charge around here

Yeah, I tip what I would regularly tip someone who brings me food, and then I about double it to account for car maintenance costs.

When Quizno's and the local Chinese place will both deliver much cheaper food, faster, for free? Fuck pizza.

No additional delivery charge around here either. But most local joints don't deliver. Just the national chains.

Glatt, Mario's delivers...OMG! I totally fucking forgot about Mario's! I totally need to eat there when we're out there in 2 weeks.

The places Rhoda and I used to order from in the Far NE and Germantown generally charged $1 or $1.50 for delivery. When I lived in DC, it was like $1.

I dunno. I make $2.25 a delivery plus tips...it works out to like $9 an hour before tips; $19 after tips. It's not a bad gig by any means. And tips actually haven't been bad lately...but I'm starting to wonder if lowering the delivery charge would actually boost business and tips.

Wait a minute! Your Quizno's delivers? I am so jealous!

I think all of them do, within a certain distance from the store. Check your zipcode here. It's a promotional thing they started doing maybe 6 months ago.

The one down the street from us doesn't offer it yet, apparently...but others in the metro area do.

I don't understand ... why don't you just send the production assistant to go get the food? Then the delivery is free!

Sincerely,
Guy who has lost all perspective living in LA

OUr pizza places have always delivered for free. Especially as you get clsoer to NYC. Too much competition. But you are expected to tip the driver. I usually round up a couple of bucks and give him 2-5 dollars.

@SG I didn't know there could be pizza of lower quality than dominos.

Oh yeah. Thinner and cardboardier crusts (or thicker and more mattressy), watery sauce, randomly cut toppings (ie huge chunnks of red onion but micro-dots of pineapple) and weird topping combinations.

To be fair to them, their sides are usually FAR better, they are miles cheaper and they are halal (doesn't bother me, but it offers a service). And they are open later.

My American date-non-date explained about pizza to me last week. He said the standard pizza chains in the UK (Pizza Hut and Dominos) are not American style pizzas, as I always assumed. He said they are the lowest common denominator created by suits in the mid-West as a cheap fascimile of what pizza should be.

The worst pizza available in England is far worse than the worst pizza available in America - the standard is generally much higher. However he admitted that you can buy Italian style pizza over here which is better than what the majority of Americans would accept as real pizza.

Having travelled in Italy I was fairly confident of this, but it was nice to have it confirmed. My apologies for calling the other stuff American style for years. I loathe Pizza Hut, but have got used to Dominos. Their Sizzler makes my bum burn and I quite like it.

DOMINOS
Spawn of TEH DEVIL

Corporate HQ Ann Arbor Michigan.

Mysteriously withdrew oodles of community support after refused planning permission for an enormous statue of Christ overlooking a major freeway intersection.

Pizza Hut and Dominos have free delivery over here, but I prefer to order from Pizza Capers. Their delivery fee is $4. If the order is over $40 (which ours usually is), it's free.

The local Thai food place charges $6 delivery.

Ribbets charges $10 delivery.

One of the great things about living around Philadelphia: the fine independent pizza restaurants, all over the place. Based somehow in the Italian immigration here. It's a cheap staple and a great tradition, in the same sense that fish n chips is the English tradition. Dominos can't compete.

Yeah, we get free delivery from a small place about a mile away, although its never pizza (calzones, eggplant parm, wings etc). There a tiny place within walking distance but their marinara is too sweet.

i have 3 favored places that deliver italian/hoagies/salads/ etc....they all fax me specials every day, and I usually decide what me, the special finance guy, and the inventory clerk have for lunch. the chinese place delivers for free....all of the italian styles charge....NickyB's, Fontana's, and Sarcones.....

and then I tip the delivery guy....it's $10 for a $6.50 special lunch deal.

and the chinese (Cindy's) gets there in like 11 minutes. the pizza joint.....45- 1 hr.

it't a daily source of stress.

i need to start packing lunch again.

Oh damn. Just remembered I'm not supposed to like Dominos any more. Thanks for the reminder Monster.

That and the super-quick-give-you-free-chocolates stationery delivery company. Damn right wing right to lifers are everywhere these days. Still, at least shunning their business is better for my health. Imagine the quandry if it was the tofu and beansprout producers that I thought unethical...

Worst pizza I ever had was in Kharkov, Ukraine. We were on tour, and our local production manager took the band to a place called "America Pizza."

It was a pre-made grocery store type crust, stiff as a board, with ketchup, honest to god ketchup as the sauce. There were a few strands of cheese, so few that you could actually see them individually melted into the ketchup. The only other topping? Cabbage.

There was also a free-standing cabbage bar in the corner, in case you wanted to try other kinds of cabbage on your "America Pizza."

For the record.
One of the cheap pizza delivery places.
Any place that sells kebab or chicken and has pizza as a sideline generally isn't selling pizza that is worth the eating. Unless you're broke/ drunk/ feeding lots of people (or any combination of the three).

I am baffled by that "tex-mex platter," to say the least.

Yeah really where is the Tex - or the Mex???

I am a prisoner at work, so I have two options, brown-bagging (actually lovely rust orange nylon bagging with embroidered moose) or delivery.

The place with good, reliable food charges $1.50 delivery.

The places with sometimes better food, but hostile delivery guys charge anywhere from $2-3.

We usually order from the $2.50 delivery place.

I think the Chinese delivery is free, but we only get from them once a week.

There is a new Mexican option, and they don't charge for delivery, but not all Mexican food travels well (The Queso gets too solid and the tortillas too soggy).

I'd rather be able to leave the building for dinner, but that's not going to be changing any time soon.

It's the Mexican version of Chinese whispers. All the local places copy from eachother. At some point there may have been a real Tex-Mex element, which has been replaced with better selling sides until only the jalapenos survive. Chillies, Mexican, see? Oh and onion rings, American, that'll do.

I'll have to find you some more Tex Mex Specials!

Americans have now had their obesity generations, Europe will be following in about five years.

"Here's a big cheap bomb of dough and fat for you; it's utterly filling, and the sugar rush from the white flour will have you feeling blissfully contented in about an hour.

"If later you feel bad about your weight, have another one to reach the same level of blissful contentment again."

In L.A. there are no delivery fees other than the tip you give to the driver.

Quick bit of trivia: The term "Tex-Mex" actually refers to the geographic locations of Texas and Mexico, and the culinary habits of the people in those regions (IE, corn tortillas, refried beans, etc.). Strange, but true. It's one of those archaic terms that's hard to trace back to it's logical origin.

Wait one minute. Food delivered to your home? What will them city slickers think of next? It'll never catch on.

Bird flies over your house; shoot and eat. Food delivered.

So this Sycomoro character calls in the bird shoots cleans and cooks for $2.50? Sign me up.

I can't remember the last time I actually had a pizza or food delivered - and I don't recall a fee for delivery. I'm too cheap to order pizza, but I dig pizza.

Sundae... what do you think of Pizza Express? I love it and I always have to go there when in the UK. I know it's probably not that big of a deal and the pizza probably isn't that good in the grand scheme of things, but I love it :).

Oh no...I am only the bringer of death, not the preparer.

Oh...my new place charges $2 flat.

Pizza Express is very good. I avoided it for years because of the name, then a very nice young man took me in there and I realised it was nothing like what I expected! You can buy some of their pizzas in Sainsbury's now. Not as good as the real thing and twice as expensive as other cook at home pizzas - and twice as tasty!

I had a similar experience with Sushi Zone. A "zone" sounds like a place where chili dogs would be served.

More Tex Mex for you. Sorry, Hot Mex. If Tex Mex is supposed to represent Texas and Mexico, where is Hot Mex from?

Then the main menu. Including one of my cheap pizza gripes. Why is the fish pizza so unrelentingly fishy. I think pretty much every pizza company has this pizza - three types of fish and sliced tomato. Bleurgh! Prawns on pizza are just wrong anyway.

Changed to "Hot Mex" after backlash from Dubya made Texas unpopular?

btw: That's a huuuge image. I use Irfan View (free) for resize/resampling.

Is it?
Sorry, I already cut it down on Irfanview - it fits my screen here but I didn't want to go smaller because the writing is so small.

Sorry, it must be the PC I'm on.

But, yeah, "Hot Mex" ...WTF is that?

I was in Sainsbury's today - one of the good (big) supermarket chains.
Their Tex Mex Combo Pack is as follows:
I am intrigued by the vegetarian state of Tex-Mexia now. Previously I thought chicken was a staple part of the diet. Perhaps it is a religion rather than a geographical place, with different schools of thought.

What they're calling "Tex Mex" are really just typical American side-dishes/appetizers. But they've got them all jumbled up into what I would expect to see listed as a "sampler platter" or some such. "Hot Mex" is even more confusing. As a Texan I find this rather intriguing.

I'd love to see moar menus SG.

Now this is a proper takeaway menu!
Split into 2 to make it easier to read

I had the £8.95 deal on Sunday and it was soooooooo good.
Starter, main, rice, naan, side, 2 poppadums & dip
The portions are smaller than if you order separately, but you get more variety with a meal deal

We are seeing a lot of Indian restaurants, but don't really have Indian takeaway in the US which is a terrible shame. Sag Paneer and Aloo Gobi and Chicken Tikka Massala are staples at the local lunch buffet. It's kickass.

Dot, not feather.

Oh, man. It has been so long since I had a proper Indian buffet. I am seriously craving some chicken curry right now.

My meal today.
Om nom nom nom.
I am soooooooo bloated.

Starter. Shami kebab and Chicken Tikka with side salad
Main. Plain Naan, Pilau Rice and left to right Chicken Tikka Massala, Chicken Bhuna, Lamb Curry

Side - Poppadums and Mint Raita
I'd like to point out this is a set meal. I'd have had less, but you pay more because they don't do the half portions, except on the meal deals.

We have Tiffin in Philly, which for now only delivers in and around Center City. They are expanding though--it's very very good stuff.