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So Boxing Day isn’t recognized in the United States, although most English speaking countries do observe it (meaning it’s considered a holiday and workers are given the day off). There isn’t one identified origin of Boxing Day but from my research the most commonly written about theories of origin include giving gifts (and leftovers) to the lower ranked society, leaving metal collection boxes outside churches for the Feast of St. Stephen, filling boxes with money and presents for tradesman and lastly a day to visit family.
Being we are THAT! Company and we like to have fun and a challenge we decided to do a Pizza Boxing Day Challenge and everyone (that was here today) was game.
We order lunch at least once a week for the company. Pizza is our go-to lunch to order. So we called up the local pizza restaurants; Pizza Hut, Papa John’s, Domino’s and Hoss’s Pizza (the only non-chain restaurant) that we usually order from and told them we were doing a challenge. We ordered 3 large pizzas from each and told them we wanted them to be delivered at 12:00pm. During the call to each restaurant we ordered 1 large pepperoni and one large ½ cheese, the other ½ was left up to them and for the third pizza we told them to give us their best choice. A total of 12 pies were ordered from the four restaurants (3 from each) which gave us 96 slices of pizza.
The average bill was about $34.00. We, Ken Knorr, CEO of THAT! Company and I figured an 18% tip was about $6.00. We then agreed the pizza delivered closest to noon would get a $10.00 tip (for delivering closest to the requested time), the pizza delivered first and furthest from noon would get only a $5.00 tip (just because they were just too early). Other tips included $6.00 and $8.00 (delivered second and third respectively). This was done in the hopes no one would show up after 12:00pm because there would have been no way for us to accommodate that happening.
Papa John’s was first to arrive. They delivered 1 – pepperoni, 1 – Five sausage and 1 – ½ cheese & ½ meatball at 11:51 am. The delivery guy received a$5.00 tip
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Pizza Hut arrived second and delivered 1 – pepperoni, 1 – super supreme and 1 – ½ cheese & ½ BBQ beef at 11:53 am. The delivery guy received a $6.00 tip. They were the only ones to also deliver branded plates, grated parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes.
Domino’s showed up third as Pizza Hut was leaving. They delivered 1 – pepperoni, 1 – America’s Favorite Feast and 1 – ½ cheese & ½ sausage at 11:54 am. The delivery lady received an $8.00 tip.
Hoss’s walked in right after Domino’s (so they were closest to the specified noon delivery) and they delivered 1 – pepperoni, 1 – deep dish deluxe and 1 – ½ cheese & BBQ chicken at 11:55 am. The delivery lady received a $10.00 tip.
(I appreciate all the delivery people agreeing to let me take a picture of them)
After lunch we sent out a survey asking our participants of today’s challenge to provide their feedback on the pizza they picked to eat for lunch.
Fourteen of the sixteen participants responded to the survey in time to have their input included in this blog. Out of the 96 slices we started with only 32
slices of pizza were left over. As I watched every one pick their pizza choices I noticed Hoss’s Deep Dish Deluxe (DDD) was being attacked (agressively).Needless to say there was nothing left in the pizza box (not even crumbs). Out of the four restaurants Pizza Hut had the most pizza slices left over (5 pepperoni, 5 super supreme and 4 cheese slices to be exact). One person graded their BBQ beef as great while another didn’t like the pepperoni.
Papa John’s and Hoss’s tied in having 3 slices left over. Papa John’s had three cheese slices left over and feedback on taste averaged out as “good.” Hoss’s overall taste was categorized as great although one person commented the “cheese and toppings just slipped off so I was left with sauce and bread.”
More than half of our participants went back for a second serving. A few people went outside of their normal toppings but mostly everyone stayed with what they were comfortable with. Hoss’s is the clear winner on taste and our next pizza order will go to them. This was a fun idea for boxing day. Hope you were able to do something fun while you were at work today.
With the amount of pizza left over – we will still have enough for (a small) lunch tomorrow (first come, first serve).
