For years, delivery was the headline number every pizzeria owner watched. That story is changing fast. Carryout has quietly become the off-premise channel customers actually prefer, and recent industry data shows delivery’s share of off-premise orders slipping from 61% in 2022 to 55% in 2025. Roughly 44% of diners now say they prefer takeout, mostly to skip third-party fees and get their food faster. If your operation still treats carryout as an afterthought, you are leaving margin and repeat business on the table.
Here is the catch: winning the carryout customer is not just about a fast pickup window. It is about whether that pizza is still crispy when the customer gets it home. A soggy carryout pie is arguably worse than a soggy delivery one, because the customer chose to drive, chose to wait, and still ended up disappointed. Let’s break down why carryout is growing, where the quality risk hides, and how to make sure your crust survives the trip.
Why Carryout Is Winning in 2026
The economics favor both sides. For customers, carryout means no delivery fee, no driver tip, and no waiting on a third-party app’s estimated time. For operators, carryout carries lower packaging and logistics costs than app-based delivery, which can eat 10-15% of revenue. When a customer drives to you, they cut out the most expensive and least controllable part of the off-premise equation.
There is also a satisfaction gap working in carryout’s favor. Industry research found that when prep times run late, carryout customers still reported a 61% satisfaction score with speed, while delivery satisfaction dropped to 37% under the same delays. People forgive a slightly longer wait when they are in control of the pickup. What they do not forgive is opening the box at home to find a limp, greasy crust.
The Hidden Risk: The Drive Home
Quality has overtaken speed as the number one driver of off-premise satisfaction. Hot, structurally intact pizza boosts satisfaction scores by more than 50 points. The problem is that a carryout box is a sealed, steaming environment from the moment it leaves your oven. Even a 10-minute drive lets topping oil and water settle into the crust, and the center of the pie goes soft long before the customer sits down to eat.
The science is simple. As toppings cool, they release moisture and oil that pool on the surface and soak downward into the dough. Cheese slides, oil puddles form, and the center two-thirds of the pie, the part with the most toppings, turns soggy. Venting the box and stacking it correctly help, but they only manage the steam. They do nothing about the liquid already sitting on top of your crust.
How to Protect the Crispy Crust Customers Drove For
The most effective fixes target moisture at the source rather than after the fact. A few practices that make a real difference for carryout:
- Bake to a slightly crispier finish for off-premise orders, since the box will continue to soften the crust during transit.
- Use vented boxes and avoid stacking hot pies directly on top of one another, which traps steam.
- Drain or pat high-moisture toppings like fresh mozzarella, mushrooms, and tomatoes before they go on the pie.
- Absorb topping oil and water before it ever reaches the dough, so the crust stays crisp the whole way home.
That last point is where Krisp-It does the heavy lifting. Krisp-It is an all-natural, moisture-absorbent topping conditioner made from simple ingredients: bleached wheat flour, salt, sugar, and yeast. You sprinkle a half-ounce to an ounce under the toppings across the center two-thirds of the pie, and it absorbs the topping oil and water that would otherwise soak the crust. It handles roughly 70% of the sogginess problem without changing the taste or appearance of your pizza, and it costs only pennies per pie.
It also solves the smaller annoyances that carryout customers notice: sliding cheese, oil puddles that clear in about 8 seconds, soggy calzones, and runny lasagna. For a deeper look at the moisture problem, see why pizzerias use Krisp-It, and check the how-to-use guide for exact placement and dosing.
Make Carryout a Repeat Business Engine
Carryout customers are some of your most loyal and lowest-cost guests, but only if the product holds up. A crispy, intact pie that travels well turns a one-time pickup into a standing weekly order. A soggy one sends them to the chain down the street, or worse, to a one-star review. As carryout keeps gaining share through 2026, the pizzerias that protect crust quality on the drive home are the ones that will own the channel.
Want to see how Krisp-It performs on your own pies? First-time customers get a free sample. Call 1-800-KRISP-IT (800-574-7748), email sales@krisp-it.com, or visit our contact page to request yours. Keep it crisp, and say NO to soggy pizza.