Dive Brief:
- Mod Pizza abandoned its “one price fits all” model for pizzas on Monday, the brand said in an emailed statement.
- The brand will now sell pizzas at three distinct price points: cheese pizzas are cheapest, followed by one-topping pizzas and unlimited-topping pizzas, in ascending order.
- Mod was recently acquired by Elite Restaurant Group and has begun refranchising corporate stores. The new pricing plan fits into a broader effort to redefine the ailing pizza chain, which was rumored to be considering Chapter 11 bankruptcy before its acquisition.
Dive Insight:
Mod framed the pricing change as a new era for the brand, and a way to offer consumers more value.
“MOD has always offered an incredible array of toppings, always-fresh ingredients and the freedom to choose, and now guests can do that at a value-packed price,” Lyndsey Patel, the brand’s VP of marketing, said in the release.
At one Mod location in suburban Maryland, an 11-inch cheese pie costs $8.79, a one-topping pizza of the same size is $10.29, and an unlimited-topping pizza is $11.79. The brand did not respond to a request for comment on the minimum prices for its pizzas or the differences between its current and former price points.
With consumers retreating from restaurant spending this year, many brands have reconsidered their overall pricing strategies. Some chains have refrained from price increases or implemented discounting strategies to draw consumers back. Despite such adjustments, food-away-from-home prices are still rising faster than the general rate of inflation, Bureau of Labor Statistic data shows, and the 12-month inflation rate for restaurant prices is roughly quadruple that of grocery prices.
