Think back to your last pizza order. The craving was sky-high, and you were hoping for the whole experience to hit just right, from the first interaction to the last bite. Maybe the pizza hit the spot. Maybe it didn’t. But what do you remember more clearly, the taste of the toppings or how the experience felt?
Maybe the delivery driver tossed you the box without a word. Or maybe they greeted you with a smile, said "enjoy your night," and made you feel like more than just a ticket on the screen. That split second of human connection often defines how customers walk away feeling, and whether they come back.
Backed by compelling pizza statistics, the 2026 Pizza DELCO Study explored the often-overlooked ingredient in customer satisfaction: friendliness. The results? Hard data proves that small moments of genuine care carry big weight across every service channel. Here’s a breakdown of one of the most unexpected pizza trends.
What the Data Says About Friendliness
1. Overall Satisfaction was 28.8 percentage points higher when service was rated friendly
Friendly service consistently aligned with stronger overall satisfaction across both delivery and carryout experiences. When staff smiled or offered a short, pleasant interaction, it significantly impacted customer ratings.
Here’s what else stood out on friendliness:
- In-store pickup staff friendliness was higher among mid-sized chains than large chains by 7.8 percentage points, with brands like MOD Pizza standing with a carryout staff friendliness score of 93%.
- Delivery driver friendliness skewed toward large chains, which posted an average friendliness score of 87.3%, compared to 81.5% for mid-sized pizzerias. Marco’s Pizza led all brands with a 96.6% delivery driver friendliness rating.
- Marco’s Pizza led delivery driver friendliness while being observed to use a mix of in-house and third-party delivery. Domino’s, where shoppers reported no identifiable third-party drivers and all drivers appeared to work directly for the brand, recorded an 89.7% delivery driver friendliness score, down from 96.6% last year. Could this factor be worth exploring in the scope of delivery friendliness?
Explore more on friendliness in delivery and the impact of third-party delivery.
2. Staff attentiveness has declined year over year
Being present and responsive matters, especially during busy rushes. Customers who felt acknowledged during pickup reported significantly higher satisfaction.
Insights from the report show:
- Staff attentiveness declined across both segments, dropping from 87.5% to 72.4% for large chains and from 85.0% to 77.6% for mid-sized chains.
- Several large chains recorded declines of 10 percentage points or more in staff attentiveness, including Pizza Hut falling from 100% to 70% and Little Caesars from 87.5% to 68.8%.
- 64% of customers associated attentiveness with confirming their order before handoff, while other cues such as how quickly they were greeted and whether the interaction felt warm and personable also shaped perceptions of attention. Download the report to see how important each factor was to customers.
3. Large pizza chains edged mid chains in % of customers greeted upon entry
First impressions are everything. Just saying "hello" had a measurable impact.
- Large chains still lead on first impressions, greeting just over 80% of customers in 2026, while mid-sized chains are quietly closing the gap.
- Large pizzerias still leaned on verbal greetings and eye contact, but “smile” was the biggest swing metric, dropping for large chains while rising meaningfully among mid-sized brands.
- Execution varied sharply by brand, with Papa John’s and Marco’s Pizza posting verbal greeting and eye contact rates above 80%, while one brand trailed across all greeting behaviors.
- When there was no greeting, overall satisfaction took a hit, even when food was accurate and on time.
4. Overall Satisfaction was 6.7 percentage points higher when phone orders were handled entirely by employees
Human interaction is vital, especially when someone is calling in with a specific request. Automated systems may be efficient, but have the potential to adversely impact the warmth customers crave.
- Fully-automated and semi-automated phone systems performed well on accuracy, but how did it affect friendliness and customer perception? Read the full study to find out!
- After using some full-automated phone order systems last year, brands like Pizza Hut, Little Caesar's and Hungry Howie's opted for semi-automated or full employee handled systems in 2026.
- After outperforming large chains last year, mid-sized chains saw order-taker friendliness decline by 6.6 percentage points in 2026, while large chains improved by 6 percentage points. Pizza Hut, Domino’s, and Marco’s Pizza were among the top-performing large chains on this metric.
Discover all the key takeaways from our Pizza DELCO study here: Pizza Trends Shaping Delivery and Carryout Today.
Friendliness Isn’t Random. It’s a System
When a Chick-fil-A team member says, “my pleasure,” it’s not just a nice phrase. It’s part of a system designed to deliver consistent, elevated hospitality. That level of intentionality is built into training, reinforced by leadership, and expected across every location. The 2026 Pizza DELCO Study reveals that the same holds true for pizza brands looking to level up their customer experience.
When friendliness is built into your operations and delivered consistently across channels, it becomes a key driver of satisfaction.
Here's how you can measure what friendliness looks like for you.
Mystery Shopping: Validate What’s Really Happening
You can’t improve what you can’t truly see. And when it comes to something as personal and powerful as friendliness, surface-level impressions just don’t cut it. Mystery shopping offers an objective view of how your teams are showing up in the eyes of your customer.
With mystery shopping, you can:
- Evaluate staff behavior: See if team members are greeting guests with a smile, using a warm tone, and making people feel genuinely welcome. You can even find outliers of exceptional performance.
- Assess service consistency: Compare how restaurant standards are upheld across dine-in, carryout, delivery, and phone orders.
- Capture real scenarios: Gain insight into the x-factor that makes a location stand out or fall behind in terms of friendliness.
- Identify training gaps: Pinpoint exactly where expectations aren’t being met, right down to specific steps in the guest journey. It’s clarity you can easily act on.
There’s always a reason behind great service, or why it falls short. Sometimes it’s training, sometimes it’s an unseen operational issue. Mystery shopping services help you see the full picture, so you can strengthen what builds connections and address what gets in the way.
Curious about a return on investment?
Learn more on How to Measure the ROI of Your Mystery Shopping Program
A Lasting Impact of a Friendly Experience
The Pizza Delivery and Carryout (DELCO) Study shows that friendliness continues to shape how customers evaluate their experience and whether they reorder. It comes down to ensuring positive service shows up consistently across locations and channels.
Do you want to learn how our mystery shopping services can help you measure and strengthen friendliness across your operations?