I can understand why it is a popular choice with events – it is just 1 dish with different nutrients, everybody is familiar with it, you can eat it with your hands. But seriously, everything is about pizza! Why is it so? Marketing? Culture?
A few reasons I think:<p>- inexpensive
- delicious
- stacks well (can serve at scale)
- not messy, even without plates<p>Nearly everyone likes pizza, and there are lots of varieties for various tastes.<p>At my work, we've tried various foods, but we always come back to pizza because it's so universally liked and so convenient.
Not mentioned already is that pizza is ubiquitous within the US. Pretty much anywhere you go, you can order pizza from one of Dominoes/Pizza Hut/Papa John's/Little Ceasar's/local pizza shop. If you're supporting events across the company, pizza is the easy choice, especially since it's easy to order in bulk and easy to clean up afterwards. And as already mentioned, it can be made gluten-free or vegan to satisfy most food restrictions.
What food would you expect to see instead? I also see lots of sandwiches and (in Silicon Valley) salad. Though I wish there were more healthy options, I also have to admit that some of the time when there are healthy options (veggie sticks), I choose to eat the less healthy stuff that's available.
It's the quintessential cheap delivery food that the world love, and it got there through decades of unorganized marketing.<p>I wouldn't be surprised if it'll be replaced in a few generations or so by something else (popplers?).
When we release a new version, we always have a big pizza delivery. I'm struggling to think what food you could replace that with, that could satisfy the broad mix of people in our place.<p>It's a good question though!
In my city some tech events make the point of publicising the fact that they don't have pizza and instead have a proper buffet. Apparently the buffet is cheaper for them too!
In my opinion, Ramen (asian noodles) deserve some room in the junk food podium. There is even an essay from Paul Graham quoting them (Ramen profitable) ;-).
pizza has the highest margin of all fast food varieties. I think this is also the reason it was available for delivery long before modern food delivery services.