Reggio Emilia A direct answer, numbers in hand, to those who talk about these days Reggio Emilia as the city with the most expensive pizza. Luca Pirruccio, pizza chef and owner of Pirru, with three restaurants in the historic center and others in the province, entrusts a video to social media that is both an outburst and an explanation. A stance in defense of the category, but above all an invitation to look at what is really behind the price of a pizza: raw materials, work, production times, fixed costs and service. Not a controversy as an end in itself, but a reasoning that tries to move the debate from “how much it costs” to “why it costs so”.
«I would like to make a small controversy in favor of all the pizza chefs in the world, because lately there has been a lot of talk about the price of pizza, often without really going into the merits of what a pizza is today and why its cost can be different from place to place, from city to city, from company to company – he says in the introduction in the video – Today pizza is offered in a thousand different ways, which is precisely why there are different prices. But those who work seriously also know that, if you want to be punctual and honest, it is possible to explain quite clearly where you arrive with the final price. Let’s get my pizza. Everyone says that Reggio Emilia is an expensive city: let’s try to understand why, starting from the numbers.” «I start from a dough made with 50 kg of flourwater and extra virgin olive oil, the one I use. From this dough I get a total of about 230 balls. Do the math and understand how much each ball weighs – he continues -. To make my Margherita I use my tomato, grown for me in the Agro Sarnesewith authorized consortium and my label. The kids pass it one by one to get the sauce. I use 150 grams of it on each pizza: the cost is 6 euros per kilo. The mozzarella is made especially for me, with Parmigiano Reggiano milk. 100 grams goes on each pizza: mozzarella costs 7.50 euros per kilo. I did the calculations: if we want to attribute the cost of the ball only to the ingredients, we are around 60 cents. To this must be added the cost of labor: at least an hour to make the dough, which can be worth as little as 20 euros, then the fixed costs. My dough goes to bed for two days in bulk, then the pizza makers cut, make balls and there is another day of rest. In total it takes three days of management to get a ready pizza”.
«The cost of a Margherita includes everything behind it, not just what you see on the plate. Now I ask you a question: when you say that a pizza is expensive, what do you really attribute that price to? Think about the location, the city, where is the place located? To the cost of rent, utilities, employees? How are they classified, what level are they at, what type of training is behind it? If one really does the math, he understands that a pizza always brings with it a series of costs. Then we consider all the fixed and extra costs: utilities, structure, management. If we take it home, there is the cost of the cardboard, 25–40 cents, the cost of the driver. If we bring it to the table, no one thinks about it, but there is the cost of the service: cover charge, staff, dishwashers, orders, waiters. I’ll ask you another question. A Spritz at the table, in the historic center of Reggio, costs 7 euros. What work is behind it? Yet no one discusses the 7 euros. However, everyone is discussing a Margherita that weighs more than half a kilo, handmade, which costs 6 or 7 euros. So what should we do to protect the category? Do people still want to eat well? Or do we have to industrialize everything, because otherwise a company can’t support anything?”. Open questions, to which Pirru awaits reflection.
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