The New Zealand Herald reported yesterday (the original story on the Telegraph is here, but behind their paywall):
Topping the traditional Italian favourite with pineapple now comes with a hefty price tag at one trendy pizzeria.
Lupa Pizza, in Norwich, is charging customers £100 ($220) for their Hawaiian pizza on food delivery service Deliveroo because they disapprove of the combination so strongly.
Lupa Pizza is demonstrating their knowledge that demand curves slope downwards. As the price increases, the quantity demanded decreases. A high price of £100 is likely to lead to a quantity demanded of zero. That is, no one buys the Hawaiian pizza.
However, the publicity generated by this stunt may perversely lead Lupa Pizza to sell their absurdly priced pizza. I can just imagine some wannabe social media influencer paying £100 for the memes. Any day now. That would be an example of conspicuous consumption - buying a high-price good simply to signal the wannabe influencer's high status as a purchaser (because who, other than someone of high status, would be willing to pay £100 for a pizza? - see here, for more on that point).
I wonder how much Lupa Pizza's owners would complain when they eventually sell a Hawaiian pizza? Probably not as much as the article would have you believe - the profit margin on a £100 pizza is likely to be substantial (even when you factor in the carrying cost of pineapple as an ingredient that they would rarely use, and probably have to run to the store to get if anyone orders the Hawaiian pizza!).
The pizza may even be underpriced. If lots of wannabe influencers start buying the pizza, Lupa Pizza might need to increase the price even further, in order to really price them out of the market. I wonder what the maximum willingness-to-pay for a Hawaiian pizza is among wannabe social media influencers? We may soon find out.
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