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Abstract
Pizza is eaten all over the world because of its simplicity and taste. Given its importance in the Italian
diet, this paper provides a qualitative insight into fresh pizza consumption for the first time. This study
deals with the perception of pizza attributes in Italy focusing on the main drivers of consumer acceptance
of the traditional Margherita pizza, and analyzing in addition consumers’ preferences for novel types
of pizza in the marketplace, such as those made with organic, low calorie or frozen ingredients. The results
show how respondents firstly prefer to eat traditional pizza and mainly prefer organic ingredients leading
Italian consumers to perceive them more positively than conventional ones. Furthermore, despite the frozen
pizza market being fairly well-established in many countries, the study finds a strong propensity to buying
fresh pizza in the traditional market. The role of low calorie pizzas appears to be limited despite consumers
being quite interested in this type of product. The novelty of this paper is to fill the knowledge gap
about new typologies of pizza available in the marketplace, by exploring consumer preferences
for and perceptions of a traditionally made product in a traditional producer country. The study will also
offer managerial-oriented implications to help pizza producers develop new strategies for better identifying
the ongoing demand of pizza consumers both for traditional and new typologies.