We all love our pizza; it's no secret, considering even the United States government, through this USDA report, tells us that about 13% of Americans eat pizza daily. Pizza is filling, and the best thing is that we don't need to cook it because there are too many pizza chains in North America to buy from. But, it is still hard to choose the best chain, so I have compared two leading companies here. Read on for my Pizza Pizza vs. Little Caesars comparison below.
In this comparison, I will share a little history of each chain and then share some details, such as their menus, prices, pizza sizes, and delivery conditions. In the end, I will tell you which is the better pizza chain between the two, so you can try them out next.
1. Pizza Pizza
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Pizza Pizza Ltd is a Canadian pizza chain that has been in operation since 1967. It was founded by Michael Overs, with its headquarters in Ontario, Toronto, but has since expanded to other regions in the country, including Manitoba, Quebec, British Columbia, and Alberta. In 2021, the chain also started venturing into Mexico, which would be its first international location.
Considering the Pizza Pizza chain does not have locations in the USA, it is still one of the most famous in the country due to its name, which resembles Little Caesars' slogan: Pizza! Pizza! Little Caesars is not allowed to use the slogan in marketing campaigns in Canada, though it is trademarked in the US.
2. Little Caesars
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Little Caesars was founded in May 1959 by Mike and Marian Ilitch. It started with its first joint in Garden City, Michigan, before moving its headquarters to Detroit. Today, the chain pizza has locations all over the country and is the third-biggest chain behind the popular Domino's Pizza and Pizza Hut. In addition, the chain has locations internationally in countries like Spain, Turkey, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Saudi Arabia, India, and Canada.
This chain is often confused with Canada's Pizza Pizza. This is because Little Caesars introduced a marketing campaign in 1979 dubbed Pizza! Pizza!, which meant customers could buy two pizzas for the price of one. But, considering the Canadian pizza chain existed before Little Caesars was founded, the company was banned from using its slogan in Canada.
Pizza Pizza Vs. Little Caesars
Now that we have established these are two different companies, it is time to compare their meal offers. So, let's get started with their menus.
a) Menus
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Both companies offer extensive menus, including pizzas, fries, chicken wings, sandwiches, and salads. In addition, both allow you to create custom menus, and they dutifully prepare and deliver them to your doorstep.
Pizza Pizza has the following offers:
- Meat pizzas, including, Pepperoni pizzas, Charcuterie pizzas, Hot+honey pizzas, chicken pizzas, Donair pizzas, Prosciutto & arugula pizzas, Hawaiian pizzas, and more
- Vegetarian pizzas made with mushroom, chorizo, veggies, garlic, and various vegan cheese toppings
- Beers, including Color Light, Molson Canadian, Heineken, and Moosehead Lager
- Meat sandwiches made with chicken breasts and various toppings, including garlic, jalapeno Havarti cheese, banana peppers, and buffalo sauce
- Vegetarian sandwiches made with plant-based products like pickles, vegan sauces, buffalo sauce, and banana peppers
- Salads, including vegan caesar salad, chicken caesar salad, and bacon caesar salad
- Chicken wings
- French fries served with various treats like delicious gravy, soda, popcorn chicken, and cheese curds
While Little Caesars offers the following foods:
- Hot n Ready pizzas with various toppings, including pepperoni and Hula Hawaiian pizzas, as well as gluten-free pizzas
- Detroit-Style Deep Dish Sides
- Chicken wings
- Crazy bread offers
- Cookie dough brownies
- French fries
- Pepsi drinks
b) Pizza Quality
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When you want to scrutinize the quality of your favorite pizza, you can go back in history to discover how this delicious treat came about. According to this History article, the meal originated in Naples, Italy. Pizza was invented to meet the need of poor working-class people who needed inexpensive and quick-to-consume food. Adding topping to flatbreads provided a balanced meal quickly gaining popularity, with Italy's King Umberto I and Queen Margherita loving it.
Since then, pizzas have been judged by how they look, from the size and crust of the dough to how well-presented and tasty the toppings, which include cheese, tomatoes, meats, and more. So now, if you want to buy pizza from both chains soon, I have tested the pizzas for you. First, I ordered an old-world pepperoni from Little Caesars and a Vegan Chorizo and Sundried Tomato from Pizza Pizza to determine the quality.
a) Tasty Crust
The crust is the only part of a pizza you are sure to taste with every bite, so I was looking for the best crust: thin and crispy. Of the two companies, Pizza Pizza had the better crust than Little Caesars' thick, soggy, moist crust. Pizza Pizza's was thin and crunchy, especially around the edges, so I found it more fun to eat even without toppings.
b) Yummy Cheese
My Pizza Pizza came with goat's cheese and was well-covered, while the Little Caesars came with decent mozzarella cheese. It's hard to pick a winner depending on taste, but I lean more toward Pizza Pizza for decent coverage.
c) Tomato Sauce
I love the taste of tomato sauce on my pizza, but I must admit the Little Caesars pizza had too much of it, which also caused the crust's sogginess. The Italian tomato sauce on the Pizza Pizza married well with the thin crust to leave a lovely aftertaste in my mouth.
d) Toppings
I regard topping as the most filling characteristic of a pizza, which is why I loved the 100 pepperoni slices on top of the Little Caesar pizza. Each slice came with several pepperoni slices, so I was full after just two pizza slices. Still, I didn't particularly appreciate how overly greased the pepperoni slices were or that they made the pizza taste a bit too salty. On the other hand, the Pizza Pizza was not as filling, but I loved the balanced taste of chorizo crumble and sun-dried tomato slices.
c) Types of Pizzas and Prices
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The two pizza chains offer different types of pizzas. But, as mentioned above, Pizza Pizza has a more extensive menu; they offer different vegan and meat pizzas, compared to Little Caesars' mostly meat pizzas.
So let's see some of the different Large (14") pizzas you can buy from both companies today. Remember, the large pizza from Little Ceasars comes with 8 slices, while the large size from Pizza Pizza comes with 10 slices.
Little Caesars pizzas:
- Old-world Fanceroni pepperoni with over 100 crispy pepperonis at $9.99
- Thin crust pepperoni topped to the edges at $8.49
- Thin crust cheese topped to the edges at $7.49
- Ultimate supreme pizza with many toppings, including Italian sausage, mushrooms, pepperoni, green peppers, and onions, at $11.00
- 3-meat-treat; large pizza with lots of pepperoni, bacon, and Italian sausage toppings at $9.49
- Hula Hawaiian with loads of smoky ham and pineapple toppings at $10.00
- ExtraMostBestest Cheese with lots of cheese at $6.99
- ExtraMostBestest pepperoni Chicago pizza with more cheese and pepperoni at $6.99
- ExtraMostBestest Italian sausage with more cheese and Italian sausage at $6.99
- Classic pepperoni and cheese pizzas at $5.99 each
- Veggie with mushrooms, black olives, green peppers, onions, and Italian seasoning at $11.00
Some offers from Pizza Pizza in CAD include:
- Pepperoni and Ultimate pepperoni, with the latter coming with more pepperoni slices at $15.29
- Charcuterie pizza with Italian ham, salami, prosciutto, and parmesan and mozzarella cheese at $23.19
- Hot + Honey pizza with six cheese blends, pepperoni, and hot peppers at $20.94
- Buffalo Chicken with BBQ chicken wings, parmesan cheese, and red onions at $23.14
- Butter Chicken with butter chicken sauce and chicken toppings at $21.99
- Donair pizza with Donair, Roma tomatoes, and red onions at $21.99
- Prosciutto & arugula at $18.59
- Meat Supreme with pepperoni, bacon crumbles, salami, Italian sausage, and cheese at $22.19
- Creamy mushroom Florentine with mushrooms, spinach, six cheese blends, and creamy garlic base at $22.14
- Mediterranean vegetarian with kalamata olives, sun-dried tomatoes, and broccoli at $24.49
- Creamy garlic pizza with garlic base sauce, six-cheese blend, roasted garlic, and parmesan cheese at $19.84
d) Sizes
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While the Little Caesars pizzas are more affordable than Pizza Pizza, they only offer their pizzas in one large size with 8 slices. On the other hand, Pizza Pizza offers the following pizza sizes:
- Small size with six slices
- Medium size with eight slices
- Large size with 10 slices
- X-Large size with 12 slices
e) Buying Online
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Buying a pizza from both companies is a straightforward process, although Pizza Pizza offers more options before checkout. For example, to buy a Little Caesars pizza, you only need to select your pizza to add to your cart before checking out.
But Pizza Pizza offers you more customization options before you can check out. For instance, you can select the size, dough, base sauce, base cheese, main toppings, and extra toppings. In addition, you can set your preferred cooking instructions from Regular, Lightly Done, and Well Done pizza. When you have customized your best recipe, you only need to add it to your cart, select your delivery address, and check out.
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One thing I love about both companies is that they calculate the calories for each menu. So, when you select your best pizza and customize the offer to your liking, each company will tell you how many calories you could eat, with Pizza Pizza even going a step further to detail the calories per pizza slice.
f) Mobile App
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While you can buy your pizza or meals from the desktop sites, Little Caesars and Pizza Pizza also have mobile apps you can use to buy and track your orders. Both apps are available from Google Play or the Apple Store, and they store your best pizza selections so you can easily repeat the purchase the next time you buy.
g) Delivery or Pick Up
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With mobile apps, you can easily order your pizza from home, and both companies allow you to track the order as it is delivered. But, sometimes, delivery can take a long time, especially when you need an urgent meal. So, both companies also allow you to pick up your pizza in person if you live near their restaurants.
Unfortunately, you might need to queue for your order unless you order online before visiting the restaurant. I have found more ease picking up my pizza in person from a Pizza Pizza restaurant than a Little Caesars restaurant because the latter is always crowded, thanks to the low pizza prices.
Pizza Pizza Vs. Little Caesars: Which One Do I Recommend?
So, there you have it, I have shared my experience buying from both pizza chains, and now it's time to give my verdict on which I'd recommend you to buy from. But as I do that, I'd also like to mention some factors you can consider for your best chain below:
a) Price
If price is your biggest decider, I recommend you buy your pizza from Little Caesars. The chain is beloved for making its tomato sauces and cheese in-house, thus considerably bringing down the cost of each pizza.
While Pizza Pizza also uses the best sauces and cheese made from Canadian dairy, their pizzas are more expensive because they buy their ingredients from third parties.
b) Exhaustive Menu
If you want a chain that gives you the most pizza selections, I recommend buying from Pizza Pizza. Unlike Little Caesars, Pizza Pizza has many types of meat and vegan pizza selections you can buy.
The former offers the majority of meat pizzas compared to one veggie pizza, while Pizza Pizza has over 10 meat and 8 veggie pizza offers.
c) Pizza Quality
We all love tasty pizzas, so I recommend buying from Pizza Pizza. Compared to Little Caesars, the brand uses more high-quality ingredients, such as tomato sauce and cheese, and you also get to customize each pizza selection. You can choose how you want your pizza cooked, right from the size of the crust, to toppings and more.
Little Caesars might have the healthiest ingredients since the chain makes its sauces and cheese, but I did not enjoy their watery tomato sauce, which made the dough soggy. In addition, you will not get many customization options if you want to buy their popular pizzas.
d) Locations
Little Caesars is the better chain for you if you live in the US since Pizza Pizza does not have locations in the country. However, you can test both chains if you live in Canada since Little Caesars has locations there.
Conclusion
Contrary to what many pizza lovers assume, Pizza Pizza and Little Caesars are two different chains from different countries. The former is Canadian, while the latter is one of the leading pizza chains in the US. If you live near both restaurants, I hope my review of both chains makes it easier to purchase your next meal.
I am particularly fond of Pizza Pizza because I find their pizzas tastier and more balanced than Little Caesars'. The former is a good chain for the budget-minded buyer, but I recommend Pizza Pizza if you want to buy high-quality pizza.
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