Should You Add Pizza to Your Menu in 2026?

The number of pizza outlets in the UK grew by 10% in the past year alone. Far from cooling off, the market is still actively expanding, with new operators opening their doors every week. If you’ve been weighing up whether to add pizza to your menu, the timing has rarely looked better.

The Numbers Behind the Trend

The UK pizza market has grown at a steady pace in the past couple of years, reaching a sales value of £1.74 billion by 2024. That’s not a flash in the pizza pan. It’s sustained growth built on genuine demand, across takeaway, delivery and dine-in.

That’s everything from delis and food-to-go counters serving pizza by the slice, to affordable chains competing on speed and value, to independents putting real craft into bolder, more adventurous flavours. Alongside all of that, there’s a growing demand for ‘free-from’ options too.

Why Pizza Makes Sense as a Menu Addition

Pizza has a few things going for it that most menu additions don’t:

• It’s flexible. A pizza can be a quick lunch, a shared starter, a main course or a late night takeaway. It fits cafés, pubs, delis and food-to-go outlets equally well.
• It’s quick to prepare. With the right oven, a pizza can go from order to plate in minutes, which matters whether you’re turning tables during a busy dine-in service or keeping up with a steady stream of takeaway and delivery orders.
• The margins are strong. Base ingredients (flour, cheese, tomato) are cheap relative to the price point, especially compared to meat-led dishes.
• It travels well. For takeaway and delivery-focused businesses, pizza holds up far better in transit than most hot food.
• Customers already understand it. No introduction needed — everyone already knows what pizza is and how to order it.

What It Actually Takes to Get Started

The good news: adding pizza to your menu doesn’t mean building a full pizzeria. Most operators need three core things — an oven, somewhere cold to prep dough and toppings, and a way to shape the dough itself. There’s a fourth item worth considering too, if you’re making dough from scratch rather than buying it in ready-made: a spiral dough mixer. Many pizza operators, particularly at lower volumes, buy dough in ready-made and skip this step entirely. Beyond that, what you actually buy depends entirely on your volume and space.

Matching Equipment to Your Business

Not every pizza setup needs to look the same. A café adding pizza as a lunchtime option has very different needs to a busy takeaway doing volume every evening.

• Café or low-volume setup: A single-deck oven, such as the King Edward PK1 Pizza King, paired with a compact prep counter like the Prodis EC-2PREP, is usually enough to get going. The PK1 also comes in stainless steel, red or black, a nice touch if it’s on show at the counter. No need for a dedicated dough roller if you’re only making a handful a day; hand-stretching works fine at low volume.
• Pub or mid-volume setup: A twin-deck oven gives you the capacity to run a proper Friday night service, paired with a larger prep counter offering more topping wells. This is also where a dough roller starts to pay off, since hand-stretching gets slow and inconsistent once you’re under pressure.
• Dedicated takeaway or high-volume setup: A conveyor oven and a proper dough sheeter start to earn their keep here, letting you turn out consistent pizzas fast with minimal staff training. Our range of commercial pizza ovens covers both deck and conveyor options, in gas or electric.
• Outdoor or event catering: Markets, festivals and garden service call for something different. The Euro Grille LPG Outdoor Double Deck Pizza Oven is a genuinely budget-friendly way in. It runs from a standard LPG bottle with instant piezo ignition, so there’s no mains power needed, and it cooks two 12-inch pizzas in under 10 minutes.

The Bottom Line

Given the size and stability of the UK pizza market, there’s a strong case for adding it to your menu now rather than waiting. And getting started is more modest than it might seem: the right combination of oven, prep space and dough handling from day one could make pizza one of your best-selling items.

Not sure about what you might need? Don’t worry — we do. Give us a call on 01379 641223 and we’ll help you work it out before you buy.