Pizza Sales Soar After Passover

As Passover came to an end Monday evening, Israelis rushed to consume leavened food.

The Mishlohim website reported of a 38% rise in fast food deliveries at the end of the holiday compared to a regular day on the week before Pesach.

The website measured the food delivery orders as of 7:30 pm, when the holiday ended. According to its report, the sharpest increase – of about 50% – was recorded in the pizza arena, while hamburger orders saw a 30% rise.

The yearning for leavened food appeared to be bigger than last year, as deliveries were up 20% on Monday night compared to the end of Passover 2009. 

Guy Naor, director-general of the Mishlohim-Shop company, said that most orders were made in Tel Aviv and central Israel, from national chains and local restaurants which continued to sell bread during the holiday. 

Carjackers Foiled By Manual Transmission

Police in eastern Pennsylvania said two men tried to rob and carjack a pizza delivery driver but were defeated by the vehicle’s standard transmission.

Fountain Hill police said the Domino’s Pizza driver had stopped at a red light early Friday when a man ran up to the vehicle from the rear and grabbed her by the throat and shirt. He demanded money while a second man tried to open the passenger door.

Police said the driver reported that the men fled after making a reference to the manual transmission. Investigators did not say whether they escaped with any money from the driver.

Pizza Heist Brings Out SWAT Team

Police say a plot to steal a delivery man’s pizza brought out a SWAT team in Alaska.

Police spokesman Lt. Dave Parker says a man trying to deliver a pizza order Sunday night was confronted outside a northeast Anchorage home by a man with a gun and a stick. He says three other people attacked him from behind, grabbed the pizza but ran away without taking his money.

Police say the delivery man then followed one of the attackers, a girl, to a home where police arrested her. They say the other suspects then barricaded themselves in the home, prompting authorities to call in a SWAT team that entered the property.

Joseph Nicalaskey and Cesar Alvarez-Jennings, both 19, and two girls were arrested on charges of robbery and assault. The names of the girls were not released.

Pizza Delivery Person Complains Of Naked Customer

A pizza delivery person bringing an order to a Portsmouth, NH residence was met by a naked man for the fourth time, say police.

According to the city’s public police log, police were called to a Holiday Drive residence where the delivery person said “when they deliver pizza there the resident comes to the door naked.” Police Lt. Rodney McQuate said the delivery person has encountered the naked resident during four different pizza deliveries, but did not wish to press charges.

A patrolman who was dispatched to the call “spoke to the suspect about his behavior” and “there will not be any more deliveries to this address from the reporting party,” according to the police report.

McQuate said the report will remain on file at police headquarters and that no other restaurants making home deliveries have filed similar complaints.

President’s Pizza Policy Ticks Off Chicago

 The news is hitting Chicago deep dish pizza makers‘ eye like a big pizza pie.

President Barack Obama is having 140 people over to the White House for some deep-dish pizza — St. Louis deep dish pizza.

It seems during his campaign he had pizza from a restaurant called Pi in St. Louis. That’s the story Pi assistant manager Lindsey Tornetto tells.

Whatever happened, the restaurant says the owner and his partner packed dough, cheese and pizza pans in their suitcases and flew to Washington.

It all has Marc Malnati — owner of 30 Lou Malnati’s Pizzarias in the Chicago area — shaking his head.  He says he likes Obama’s economic policy, but thinks the president’s pizza policy should change.

“Bailout” Costs Domino’s 11,000 Pizzas

The Domino’s pizza chain has given away nearly 11,000 free pizzas because of a never-used promotion that a Web customer stumbled upon.

Tim McIntyre, spokesman for Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Domino’s, said that the company had prepared an Internet coupon for an ad campaign that was considered in December but never activated.

McIntyre said somebody discovered that the code word “bailout” was good for a free medium pizza ordered online. The information quickly spread on the Web, until the code was deactivated.

The owner of 14 Domino’s locations in the Cincinnati area says his stores gave away more than 600 pies. Owner John Glass told The Cincinnati Enquirer that Domino’s promised to reimburse him for the pizzas.