Another $5 Food Deal Disappears As Little Caesars Raises Hot-N-Ready Pizza Prices
While there are a number of fast food options that have offered $5 food deals, a couple of the most famous over the years are probably Subway's (now defunct) $5 footlong deal, Dairy Queen's (no longer existent) $5 lunch, and the $5 Hot-N-Ready pizza from Little Caesars. Just like Subway and Dairy Queen's former $5 deals, Little Caesars is upping the price on their famous deal.
A couple years ago, Dairy Queen upped their $5 lunch to $6 meal and $7 meal options and Subway dropped their $5 footlong deal in 2018, only to briefly revive it in a different form in 2020. This left Little Caesars as the sole remaining $5 deal among the famously promoted options at that price point. Until now.
While prices for nearly everything have gone up in the last year, fueled by supply and labor issues, Little Caesars held onto their $5 price point for their basic pizza option until now. They've offered this price for about 25 years, which is actually pretty impressive, all things considered. Of course, Little Caesars offers more expensive options on their menu, the $5 large ready-to-go pepperoni has been a staple for a long time.
The hike, which will be an 11% increase on the previous $5 price tag, comes with some upsides for fans of the chain's pies.
While you'll have to shell out an additional $0.55 per pizza, the company says (via CNN Business) that these ready-to-go pizzas will also come with "33% more pepperoni". While some might argue this is just a price hike veiled behind some extra pepperoni, the company is clearly trying to promote this as an update and increase in quality to their baseline product at a modest cost increase.
In case you're wondering when this goes into effect, the increase is already listed on their company website.
The company states that this "new and improved" pizza and price point is a permanent change company-wide, though some locations across the country could see a slightly higher price point after the launch promotion of this updated menu item.
Even despite the price hike, Little Caesars is still making the claim they offer the lowest price point in the chain pizza world, saying they come in $7 or more cheaper than other major chains in most locations around the country.
On the claim that they are purely the cheapest on a large pizza among their major competitors, they are correct. The difference of $7 or more is a little more muddy. While there is a relatively substantial difference on "regular price" between them and their competitors, much of the competition offers pretty regular specials and coupon offers that don't quite beat the $5.55 price point, but do offer much more customization and additional toppings for only slightly more
At the time of this post, the closest promotionally that Papa John's can come is $11.99 for a large, 2-topping takeout pizza (a difference of $6.44). Meanwhile Pizza Hut offers a $10 deal for a large pizza with up to 3 toppings (a difference of $4.45), and Dominos offers a carryout deal on certain pizzas of $7.99 for up to 3 toppings (a difference of $2.44).
All of these are more expensive (and are not permanent, regular prices), but do offer additional toppings. Note that these offers were accurate at the time of post publication and are subject to change and vary by location.
Regardless of comparisons, the general leader on cheap pizza is upping the price a little, which means inexpensive pizza parties just got a little more expensive - though will now feature a little more pepperoni as a trade-off.