Craving Little Caesars’ $5 pizza? The chain now delivers — but there’s a catch
Craving Little Caesars?
You don’t have to drive through Miami traffic to pick it up anymore.
The popular pizza chain says they’ll deliver it to you — breaking a nearly 60-year tradition of how they do business.
Pizza Hut, Domino’s, Papa John’s and others have offered delivery for years. But Little Caesars, with the exception of a few locations over 20 years ago, is a carryout place.
Not anymore.
Little Caesars’ full menu is now available for delivery in thousands of stores across the United States, the company announced this week.
The Detroit-based company says it’s the third largest pizza chain in the world, with stores in each of the 50 states and 24 countries around the world. The company says it has 15 stores in the Miami area and another 15 in Broward.
A pizza delivery from Little Caesars will also cost “at least $5 less than the same order from the other three top national pizza chains,” the company said.
“We’ve seen such expensive and complex pricings throughout the pizza industry, and we think it’s crazy!” said Little Caesars President and CEO David Scrivano in a statement. “We’re excited to bring much needed affordability to delivered pizza. We’ve long been known as ‘Best Value in America,” and now you can get an amazing value whether you walk in our door or we deliver to yours.”
Will delivery affect your cheap Hot-N-Ready dinner?
Scrivano told the Wall Street Journal it shouldn’t. The DoorDash partnership would still allow Little Caesars to continue offering “one of its most popular, basic pizzas for $5,” he said.
But customer, beware. There will reportedly be a $2.99 delivery fee, along with a 10 percent service fee that maxes out at $3. Then, of course, there’s a tip.
So, that $5 deal can be more than $10.
Little Caesars didn’t answer Miami Herald’s inquiry as to why they decided to change things. An increasingly competitive field inundated with local competitors, “virtual” restaurants and the popularity of food delivery apps such as UberEats and GrubHub across the country probably has something to do with it.
In the past, food delivery options were fairly slim and leaned more toward pizza or Chinese food. Now, the average person has two food delivery apps on the phone and uses them at least three times per month, according to a recent USFoods.com survey.
You can also order almost anything with a swipe of your thumb.
That’s how Little Caesars is hoping to attract customers.
The company is partnering with popular food delivery app DoorDash to take your order from a Little Caesars location to your doorstep. The prices for delivery and carryout will be the same, Scrivano said.
Little Caesars won’t be listed on the DoorDash platform, according to Yahoo.
Instead, customers will place their order using Little Caesars’ app or website and select if they want to pick it up or have it delivered. Unlike other restaurants, Scrivano says Little Caesars won’t require a minimum purchase to get deals, and discounts won’t apply to only carryout orders.
If you choose delivery, the app notifies a DoorDash driver when the order is ready for pickup. Customers will then be able to track their order from the store to their door.
To find a Little Caesars near you, visit littlecaesars.com
