There is a story about Little Caesars in Crain's this morning [[http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...FREE/304269954) that lists the estimated market share of the larger pizza chains in the United States. Pizza Hut appears to dominate the market with 18.2 percent, but Dominos and Little Caesars have substantial shares of the market [[10.4 and 3.6 percent, respectively), especially given the pizza market fragmentation. The only other pizza chain listed was Papa John's with 7 percent of the market.

That got me thinking, what were the other players in the pizza market -- i.e., who made up the remaining 60 percent? If two of the largest pizza chains in the United States are headquartered in Metro Detroit, does that make Detroit the take-out/delivery pizza capital of the world, especially considering that Dominos practically invented delivery and Little Caesars made pizza a fast food of sorts?

I looked at the other major players in this area [[Hungry Howie's, Jet's, Benito's Pizza, Cottage Inn, Papa Romano's, etc.) and all of them were headquarted in SE Michigan, except for one, Marco's, which is actually headquartered in Toledo and has 140 locations in 17 states. While Benito', Cottage Inn, and Papa Romano's don't extend much, if at all, beyond Michigan, Hungry Howie's [[572 locations in 22 states) and Jet's [[locations in 10 states) appear to be fairly large, national players.

Although Detroit is not known for a style of pizza quite to the same extent as New York or Chicago, there is such a thing as Detroit-style pizza. With all of our pizza making exploits, is this something that Detroit could leverage for its benefit? Branding our city as such could be fun. In addition, if marketed/branded correctly, it could also draw in some tourism/economic development [[national pizza tasting contests?). Cleveland named itself the rock capital of the world, why can't we do the same for Detroit and pizza? Pizza sure ain't rock and roll, but it is America's favorite food.

While typing this, I also realized that how ironic it would be to name Detroit the pizza capital of the world given that it's very difficult to get late night delivery in dowtown. Also, when considering this idea, clear your mind of any disdain for Mike Ilitch and Tom Monaghan. I'm sure the owners of Hungry Howies and Jets are good guys...