Can Friendliness Outperform Flavor As The Next Big Pizza Trend?

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 2025 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. Delivery Drivers Who Smiled Scored 67 Percentage Points Higher in Friendliness

Delivery isn’t only about adding time. It can also incorporate ways to add value to customers. When drivers smiled or offered a short, pleasant interaction, it significantly impacted customer ratings.

• Delivery drivers are often the only face customers see in the whole pizza experience.
• Large brands like Domino’s stood out, with a 97% friendliness score for delivery.
• Friendly service turned a basic delivery into a positive moment worth remembering.
  
  

Explore more on friendliness in delivery and the impact of third-party delivery for pizza brands and QSRs alike. 

2. Carryout Friendliness Was 78% Percentage Points Higher When Staff Were Attentive 

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 and offering help during handoff moments improved overall impressions.
• One mid-sized chain even outperformed large brands on attentiveness.
• Is smaller staff size creating more personalized experiences? Download the report to see if this is a common trend among the mid-sized pizzerias. 

3. Customers greeted on arrival rated friendliness 40 percentage points higher than those who weren’t

First impressions are everything. Just saying "hello" had a measurable impact.

• Greeting customers as they walk in noticeably raised friendliness scores, reinforcing that hospitality starts the moment someone walks through the door and not just at the counter.
• When there was no greeting, overall satisfaction took a hit, even when food was accurate and on time.
• This small gesture is a high-impact, low-effort win for any location.
  
  

4. Satisfaction Was 65 Percentage Points Higher When Phone Orders Were Handled by Employees

Human interaction matters, 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 phone systems underperformed on accuracy, but how did it affect friendliness and customer perception? Read the full study to find out!
• Mid-sized chains that relied more on call-in orders benefited when staff answered directly.
• Friendly tone, clarity, and confidence on the phone translated into higher satisfaction across the board.
  
  
  

Discover all six key takeaways from our Pizza DELCO study here: Key Pizza Trends.

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 doesn’t happen by accident. It’s built into training, reinforced by leadership, and expected across every location. The 2025 Pizza DELCO Study reveals that the same holds true for pizza brands looking to level up their QSR experience. Once friendliness is built into your operations, it becomes a key driver of satisfaction.

Let’s look at the customer experience considerations for friendliness:

Your Frontline Sets the Brand Tone 

Every order placed, every call answered, every delivery made. These defining interactions shape a brand more than any logo or tagline ever could. It's in these everyday touchpoints where customers decide if they’ll come back or look elsewhere. As revealed in the pizza trends from our Pizza DELCO Study, even the best food can’t mask a service experience that feels rushed or robotic. People remember how you made them feel, not just what you served.

That’s why the real magic happens when frontline teams go beyond the basic service. Friendliness, confidence, and consistency are what turn first-time buyers into loyal fans, and loyal fans into unshakeable brand advocates. It starts with investing in your team, through tone coaching, hospitality training, and engagement programs that make them feel empowered. Because while any competitor can match your menu or mimic your pricing, the warmth and energy your team brings? That’s something no one can replicate overnight.

More on this in our Pizza Delivery and Carryout Study. Download now for the full insight!

Consistency Across Channels Matters

It’s easy to assume a friendly in-store experience speaks for the whole brand. But then comes the phone order that feels rushed, or a delivery that arrives with zero warmth and a rude demeanor. And just like that, the magic is gone. Our Pizza Study revealed a surprising truth: friendliness isn’t evenly distributed across channels. And that quiet gap? It’s where customer trust starts to slip.

True consistency means more than ticking boxes or following scripts. It’s about carrying the same tone, the same care, through every touchpoint—from counter to calls to the doorstep. Use consistent messaging and brand standards across dine-in, phone, curbside, and delivery. When brands start coaching for friendliness across the board, the experience stops feeling transactional and starts feeling intentional. Measuring each channel helps catch where service might feel off-brand, even if everything is technically on time.

Read More on KPIs for Online Food Delivery and Evaluating Your Delivery Partner.

Measuring What Friendliness Really Looks Like

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. Restaurant 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.

Feedback Surveys: Let Customers Be Your Mirror

A well-timed survey gives customers the space to share how they were treated, and what could’ve made the moment better.

Survey tools allow brands to:

• Post-visit feedback: Collect real-time insights after a visit, phone call, or delivery.
• Friendliness perception: Customize questions to measure friendliness, tone, and attentiveness in a way that fits your brand.
• Channel comparisons: Track satisfaction scores by region, location, time of day, or service type through real-time dashboards.
• Low-score alerts: Get notified when a customer reports a negative experience so you can respond quickly.
• Performance trends: Spot patterns over time and highlight the teams who consistently make guests feel welcome.

When feedback is easy to collect and even easier to act on, it becomes a powerful way to make great service the rule. Explore how you can utilize a comprehensive survey tool for your business.

Find out the expert methods to distribute surveys and reach the full extent of your customer base for valuable information.

The Lasting Impact of a Friendly Experience

Friendliness has a way of sticking with people. Long after the pizza’s gone, what really lasts is how someone was treated. In quick-service restaurants, where getting the order right is expected, it’s the warm greeting, the kind tone, the little things that turn a simple moment into something memorable.

These days, friendliness is a flavor all its own. And the restaurants that season every interaction with it are the ones guests keep coming back to, not just for the food, but for the feeling. You want your restaurant to be talked about, and remembered for how it made someone’s day. With the right tools in place, it’s easier to bring that kind of experience to life—across every channel, every shift, and every team.

Get a hold of the 2025 Pizza DELCO Study to learn how the best brands in the pizza industry are making it happen.