Living in the 21^st century means coming up with new and innovative ways of making our lives more and more convenient. With smartphones and data, almost any, if not all, of your domestic needs can be met from the comfort of your home. This includes food delivery, too! So here is the brief story of the origins of pizza delivery.

Before you had food courier companies who brought the order to your doorstep, there were very limited places that delivered their food to you. Pizza joints were the first category of restaurants to start home delivery, and for that, we will always be grateful.

However, where did this all start? Who was the first person to order a pizza? Well, did you know that the first-ever pizza delivery took place before cars were as common as they are now? Believe it or not, it was Queen Margherita of Savoy who placed the first order of pizza back in 1889 (It’s safe to assume the classic cheese pizza got its name from her Majesty).

Legend has it, the Queen, as well as King Umberto, her husband, were on a trip and they stopped in Naples, Italy. Tired of having extravagant food, the Queen requested a local dish to be brought up to her chambers. Since they were in Italy, the commoner’s food was pizza. The Queen’s staff summoned the best pizza chef in the area, Raffaele Esposito, and asked him to deliver a fresh pie for her Majesty. Nobody can say no to the Queen, so Chef Raffaele did exactly as ordered, and made the first recorded pizza delivery. Chef Raffaele later became famous for being the father of modern pizza.

This historic night was the stepping stone for what would end up becoming a billion-dollar global industry. Especially with the advent of Covid-19 when all public spaces and restaurants were forced to shut down, we relied heavily on delivery to keep us looking forward to something positive. Pizza is by far one of America’s favorite foods, with almost half of the population eating pizza at least once a week. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that nearly 3 billion pizzas are sold every year in the United States.

Meanwhile, in the UK, the pizza delivery market stands at a net worth of 2.1 billion British pounds. The highest-grossing market value in Western Europe is the pizza industry, and it forecasted its market net worth at 49.3 billion dollars in 2020. If this isn’t enough to hammer home just how popular pizza is, we don’t know what will. At Earth Wind & Flour we hope to continue the tradition of the origins of pizza delivery by providing fast, professional delivery services through our delivery partners.