HN Pizza Index: Cost of living by city

20 points by lifeisstillgood ↗ HN
A recent thread comparing cost of living in different countries ended up using pizza as a common metric. As we have an very international, dare I say cosmopolitan, crowd here can people please let me know the price of the largest plain cheese / tomato pizza available in your nearest large city, in local currency and USD.

if we get enough responses I will compile a graph and let the UN know.

72 comments

[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 155 ms ] thread
London-UK: 12.99 GBP - 21.50 USD (Dominos)
Though it should be noted that the best pizza in London comes from Franco Mancas in the south and west and costs more like £7 or $11.20. Or Due Sardi in the east, margarita being £6.45 or $10.40.

Dominoes is horrible.

Edit: Neither do variable sizes, both are for a ~12 inch. I have no idea what size a Dominoes "large" is, but I can imagine it's terrifying...

Or pizza pilgrims in Soho, and there are a few other places. Anywhere but dominoes.
Hyderabad-India : RS 250 - 4.07 USD
Athens-GR: 16 EURO ≈ 21.50 USD (Dominos)
I believe it's a matter of definition (no Dominos), but here are the points from Sweden (Stockholm):

My local pizzeria: 60 SEK - 9.34 USD

Pizza Hut (Large): 209 SEK - 32.52 USD

I live in the same city but I can't find a pizza near me that's cheaper than ~90 SEK - 14.01 USD
Patricia (not the boat) - Östgötagatan - Södermalm - 60 SEK (to go)!
Bangalore-India: Rs 340 ~ 5.35 USD (Dominos)
Cape Town, South Africa: 55 rand, so 5.5 USD
Bangalore / India ≈ 6 USD
Ljubljana-SI: 8 EUR ~ 11 USD
Groningen, The Netherlands: 5 euros (6 dollar 78).
portugal

pizza hut -- supreme

BNY: Ind. € 9,90 $13.42 / Média € 17,05 $23.11 / Familiar € 23,40 $ 31,72 PAN: Ind. € 10,35 $14,03 / Média € 17,65 $23,93 / Familiar € 24,15 $ 32,74 / ROLLING: € 26,15 $35,45

Just a comment here. I visit India at fairly large intervals. The prices of items there SHOCKED me! I guess if I was living there continuously I would be more used to things, so Rs 340 for a Pizza just floors me. I would have said - because its a 'novelty' food it would cost something like Rs 30, but I guess you can't even get a packet of biscuits (US: Cookies) for that.
Your comment would be much more insightful if you gave the dollar amounts, as well. Is the rupee closer to a peso or a pound?
(comment deleted)
340 rupees are about $6, that sounds reasonable to me. Where in the world do you live?

Btw, normal Margherita in Germany (Pizza Hut) 4,9 € / $7.64, large Margherita in Germany (Pizza Hut) 7,9 € / $10.71

Well, there's also the fact that Indians associate a slightly different (slightly class-ist) experiential value with chain-outlet foods, for a variety of reasons.

While most fast food outlets in America are seen as quick and (relatively) inexpensive food sources, they have been identified as upper- to upper-middle class brands since they first arrived in India. (IIRC, that was mid- to late-90s.)

IMHO, when they arrived the prices quoted on their rate-cards seemed to be directly converted from their parent locations, e.g. the daily-special dollar-sub was priced at INR 50 (roughly equivalent to a dollar) and standard subs were about INR 110 - or about $2. The standard chicken burger was priced at INR 60-ish and a happy meal combo was approx. INR 150 (roughly USD 3-ish back then).

(There isn't an Indian equivalent for the Pizza, so I can't make an adequate comparison here. :( )

Compare this with the ubiquitous "Wada-Pav" - the Indian street-food that is considered to be the equivalent of the burger - which was priced at about INR 5 back then. The Indian equivalent of the sub, i.e. the street-sandwich, would cost about INR 10.

As a kid who grew up in a very middle-class family when I was attending graduate (that's undergrad for you Americans, BTW) college, my weekly allowance/lunch-money was INR 100. With that kind of money, visiting a McDonald's or a Subway was not something we could do on a lark, you see.

Thus, by association and by virtue of their exaggerated price-points, these fast-food chains automatically became elevated to 'elite' levels, i.e. if you could afford to spend ten times the money for something a normal man considered regular fast-food, you had better be earning ten times as much as the normal guy. (I remember feeling quite nervous and kinda intimidated when I walked into a McDonald's outlet for the first time! :D)

Things have changed since then, however.

Some time in the last decade, McDonalds' and KFC realized that with the kind of prices they started out with, they were missing out the largest chunk of their target Indian market - the college-kids. Ever since, they have initiated reduced price menus (smaller burgers for INR 20, daily specials, etc.) for them.

Just for reference, the "Wada-Pav" I spoke about earlier, costs about INR 10 these days while the smaller-burger costs about INR 25. The street-sandwiches are at least INR 25, while a daily-special dollar-sub is about INR 50-ish. Not to forget, the allowances kids get these days have increased significantly, too!

Of course, my perspective in this matter is quite restricted. Do take it with a pinch of salt, please. :)

Nantes-FR: 15.6 € ≈ 21 USD (local pizzeria)
No Dominos here but here are the prices from Finland (Helsinki).

Local pizzeria: 7€ (~9.5 USD) Pizza Hut (Large): 25.8€ (~35 USD)

Moscow, Allo Pizza chain, delivery: 395 roubles or around $12.
Argentina, Buenos Aires:

About 55 ARS delivered in the suburbs (Gran Buenos Aires) and 80 ARS in a middle range restaurant. That's about 9,50 USD and 13,7 USD respectively using official exchange rates and 5,75 USD and 8,35 USD using the blue market rates. We don't really have chain pizza restaurants with international presence.

Also, things tend to raise at about 20% per year, so take that into account.

This country is fun, crazy and cheap, come visit. :)

Cheap? That must be for food only :P
Tokyo

¥2800 = $28.74 from Domino's

Japan's protectionist policies on farm products pushes up the price of all of pizza's ingredients. You'll get much better value for money with a gyuudon (rice topped with beef) set meal.

Frankfurt, Germany: 7-9 € / $ 9-12 including delivery for medium sizes, Joey's Pizza chain or local restaurants
Zagreb-HR: 35 HRK - 6.25 USD
Local pizza ~130 NOK - 22 USD. Chain (Dolly Dimple's) 179 NOK / 30 USD)

Bergen, Norway

Not including delivery.

I'll reply here since it's also Norway.

Oslo, Norway. (horrible) Local pizza around 100 NOK / 16.87 USD. Chain (Peppes Pizza) 170 NOK / 28.5 USD, 40 cm pizza

Delivery not included.

For your survey to be remotely useful, you have to pin down the requirements better.

Major pizza chain or gourmet pub?

You say "largest" pizza, but why not just specify large? Some places have enormous sized pizzas (well above 20 inches) others don't go above 18 inches.

That's the very reason this will lead to nowhere...

A good (e.g. not the crap from Domino's which is overpriced in CH anyway) italian Pizza Margherita made in a wood oven with a size of around 33cm costs CHF 17 (~$19) in Zurich.

It's the wood that makes it good.

Not quite. I live in Zurich Downtown, and you won't even find a Pizza Margarita for that price (17CHF). Its more like 22CHF (= $25) minimum. I've also lived in more rural areas in Switzerland before, and in those places 17CHF might be correct, but not for Zurich.
Dubai, UAE: $10-15 including delivery, from Pizza Hut