Little Caesars - The Rise and Fall...And Rise Again
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- Опубліковано 27 лис 2018
- Little Caesars is traditionally one of the four largest pizza chains and in my opinion, they do a good job in separating themselves from the others. They're the cheapest AND the fastest, which is especially important for a fast food chain. But from the early 1990's to the mid 2000's, they had some major troubles. This video profiles their rise to popularity, their decline during those years, and how they brought it all back.
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as a college student i will admit that the $5 Hot n' Ready pizzas come in clutch plus its pretty decent compared to the competition
My friends and i in high school would walk there after school and share a pizza. Good times
@@10easilyamused Same for me, but it was middle school. Hopefully I will have great times like you did in high school
I’m high school me and my buddy would go get a $5 hot n ready pizza and gram of bud over the weekend. Good times.
I just love their breadsticks and marinara
Third world country college student here. Having a meal for 2 people (if both are big dudes) for $5 (my country uses USD) is a life saver when you have less than 20 minutes to eat before getting into class again. It's not just the convenience but it's actually good, even if it isn't the best.
She wanted to call it Little Caesars, he wanted to call it Pizza Treat so they compromised and called it Little Caesars.
😂
😂
she called him lil caesar in bed
I wanted to have Little Caesars, but I compromised, I had grilled cheese off the radiator.
Pretty much a textbook case of compromise in a marriage
As someone who grew up in a struggling household in flint Michigan, I personally will be a lifelong customer. Little Caesar’s used to donate to our local schools and give us free tickets for red wings and tigers games, They’ve made an effort to support my community for years so that alone is commendable
They are based in Detroit, I would certainly expect them to make those commitments.
I'm from Flint too and have to agree!
@@DMallthewayyou seem tough to please lol
@@kian3527 Helping the local community is common sense
@@DMalltheway And yet most businesses don't
Little Caesars is like an old friend. Always there for you, and not for your money
What are you talking about. It’s a business. They solely exist to make money from you
@@matthewkrislow3442 he's referencing their low prices you autist
@@asdfasdf7199 I understand that but I don’t understand who actually eats that garbage
@@matthewkrislow3442 My brother in Christ, i was referring to the price.
It's a lot of friend group's 5th friend. There since elementary or middle school
Little caesars has one advantage over all the others..... *THE HOOD*
Joshua Daye LMAOOOOOOO YOOO FOR REAL
Yessirrr
Stop cappin
Fernando Andres Soto Coello Yeah that’s true. That’s all we ate anytime we had a school party.
FACTS!
Genius business model. Feeding a family of four for $10 is a HUGE sell for parents trying to treat the kids without breaking their budget
Right? Amazing for my family of 5 thats under the poverty line
My parents get it every other day
I work there and i agree aswell
Me, my two younger siblings, and my mom get full after 1 box.
So we get 2 each.
Little Caesars will always be great.pizza is good enough for me
Circa 1990 I worked as a pest control guy. I went into a LOT of restaurant kitchens as part of my job. The local Little Ceasars had the cleanest kitchen by far. They even cleaned and *shined* the drain pipes under the sinks! I was amazed and absolutely shocked at how clean the LC kitchen was as compared to all other restaurants. I still occationally go to the same place to pick up a pie today. 🤩
I use to work at Little Caesars from 2011-2015
I remember twice a year( once every 6 months) we had this checklist of things to detail clean. We called it our SHINE ON CAESARS event. We had to clean the ovens, sinks, bathrooms, clean the walls, pressure wash floors, etc.
Our area supervisiors would come and check every thing. We competed for prizes against other Little Caesars locations to see which location was the 'cleanest'
@@Trev_SwenThat's freaking awesome! 🔥
Little Caesars is the story of a legitimately good, non-super villain guy starting a large corporation and never changing who he was. He did so much good in his life. He paid Rosa Parks rent and never told anybody, he did it just to do good.
Sounds like the sort of business leader that should be held up as example. Too many nowadays who want to be some sort of cult figure.
he was one of many people that paid into a trust fund for Rosa Parks at someone else's behest. he didn't just decide to do it all on his own.
@@Bloodglas like....did you really just try to frame his charity as a bad thing?
@@sitcomchristian6886 no. I'm just adding context.
"Paid Rosa Parks rent" ? Wtf are u talking about?
Never forget, the founder of Lil Caesars paid Rosa Parks rent until her death and never once made it public for morality points.
That’s wholesome
As a hockey fan Mr. I was a great owner and was doing a lot of work to help restore Detroit to a nicer city before he passed
@@joegattog6695 Idk I heard he bought like 70 properties in Detroit and have been letting them rot.
Good man
Yeah, the founder is the reason I will never shit on Little Caesars. Legit good company that tries to help out its employees.
$10 at any other pizza chain: a small cheese pizza
$10 at Little Caesars: 2 large extra pepperoni pizzas with crazy bread, sauce, an order of wings, 2 large drinks, and the store itself
No wonder america is so fat
True
@@siddharthabiswas2147 and no wonder most other countries are sad
It's a great help for poorer folks who don't have access to a variety of options. Kept us fed when times were tough.
Nowadays I eat much differently, but I'll always remember Little Caesar's fondly.
@@SniperJade71 Hear hear. People never appreciate that in most Countries at least half the households income goes towards food alone. We are blessed to live in a Country where peasants like us can have a full stomach for an extremely low price. Wether through the grocery store or resturants.
Little Caesars fed so many college students. That builds brand loyalty. To this day, I still buy crazy bread and crazy sauce along with pizza. The pizza is OK, but the bread and sauce....that's next level
❤
I used to work there..and I ALWAYS .. put a little bit of my .. ahem.. "special" ingredient in the sauce. It was a common theme at many locations Sleep well.
@@copaminecombat idgaf I want my crazy bread 😂😂😂
Just to blow your mind remember you can ask for the garlic sauce and parmesan to be on the pizza effectively mixing them both!
I think little Caesar’s pizza went down in quality in 2010-11 time frame. I wouldn’t even buy a 5 dollar hot-n-ready. Although I haven’t given them a shot since 2015
It may not be gourmet, but there is just something about their pizza that is kind of addictive. It just has a unique flavor that I can enjoy just about anytime. Kind of like the Big Mac, you know it isn't top tier, but it still grabs you and there isn't really a substitute.
Literally this!!!
I think it's the cheap sauce.
That flavor is sodium. Nothing wrong with it just understand how your body reacts to it. If I eat too much LC pizza I get blisters on my ankles from the sodium. It’s great in a pinch but save the money you’d spend on soda for a gallon of water
@@ltchugacast131 the fuck?
@@ltchugacast131 see a doctor
Little Caesars made it financially possible to eat pizza everyday. God bless em.
Hahahaha that's so true!! And in my opinion their pizza is actually really good!
Exactly it’s cheap
But good
Yea but America doesnt need that
taste like cardboard chucky cheese pizza lol tonys is where its at or small business pizza
One of the reasons for the "rise again" was the recession in the mid to late 2000's...the idea of feeding whole family with 2 pizzas for $10 was very appealing $2.50 for a family of four.
who just eats 1 slice of pizza
@Real Talk I actually like the food, but I do gravitate towards it more when I'm broke... Lol
Nope. The reason for the rise again is me. I jus know it. They were like dead for a while, and I sent them a very special email, and right after that the rose again. I know it was me. Ur welcome.
@Real Talk he just said that it was a good deal, that's it
@@spongebobsquarepants2175???
2 pizzas * 8 slices per = 16 slices
16 slices / 4 people = 4 slices per
$10/4 people = $2.50 per person
No part of his math is implying someone only eats one slice.
I do feel something you left out in the “fall” part was how having so many locations linked to the dying K-Mart turned a strategic benefit to detriment.
Agreed. I only really remember them at Kmarts when I was growing up (maybe they had some that were not in Kmarts in my area but I honestly don't remember). And TBH, I actually like their pizza now. It's not fancy nor healthy but if I just want a cheap pizza I go them and I find them tasty!
Exactly my thoughts
I was thinking that too. It used to be such a luxury when I was a kid going to LC after grocery shopping in K-MART.
Fr as a kid I used to always get pizza from kmart miss the old days
“Pizza! Pizza!” Has been burned into my brain from when I was young. Stupid brilliant.
Alex Schock So simple but very effective and I’ve never even had a Little Ceaser’s pizza.
likewise. and where i lived they were all rectangular pizzas, for square pieces, which we loved. don’t see it in these commercial clips tho
I thought he said "Piece of Pizza"
That's how I say good morning in the office too, "Good Morning, Good Morning," lol
pizza guys is pretty good...but overpriced
The fact that Mike Ilitch supported Rosa Parks at the end of her life without once making a big deal out of it, brought affordable, safe, edible food and jobs to the hood, and used pizza as a vehicle to make the world a better place says that while they're #3 in sales, Little Caesar's will always be #1 in my book. You ask me what pizza I want, it'll always be them, because I believe that their money supports an overall good business practice and a positive community impact.
Endy Mallorn and their pizzas are actually good, definitely not as good as say a mom and pop legit New York style pizza but much better than Pizza Hut imo
@@martinrodriquez3304 I think almost anything is better than Pizza Hut.
@@martinrodriquez3304 Pizza hut was so good in the mid 2000s.
Little Caesar's has always been one of my favorite pizza places. I grew up with it and out of the three pizza places I'd eat from in my childhood LC stuck. I don't ever remember having Papa John's (when apparently i did) and another that i barely remember (i think it was called Mugs). I have so many memories of me and my father getting Little Caesar's all the time. It was THE summer pizza , if that makes sense. It holds a special place in my heart and now hearing this , something i didn't know before , makes me feel even better saying it's my number 1 favorite pizza place!
Vash Crawssover Yea, even like Casey’s pizza is better, then again, Casey’s gas station pizza isn’t bad...
The crazy bread and pizza sauce were delicious growing up as a kid. I don't think any other pizza chain had a tastier breadstick combo.
Facts no printer
From 1978-1980, I attended a hoity toity private school with Mike Ilitch's kids. At that time, the Little Caesar's-sponsored hockey team had won some sort of championship, and Mike Ilitch offered to pay for the entire team to attend the same school as his own kids. These were mostly inner-city kids would could never pay the $8,000 for tuition and boarding. Overnight, the school's hockey team was greatly improved!
I don't care what anyone says... Little Caesars has always been there for us.
The real Little Caesars was the friends we made along the way.
Always
Yeah there was one down the street from my buddy's place back in the day. In the afternoons, we'd work on our cars, he'd usually get a joint, and then we'd go to Little Caesars and get a $5 pie. It was there for us many, many a munchie session.
@Zerozerozero same bro.
Ironically as much as people want to talk shit, Dominoes before their reboot, aka "Our pizza is now edible!" was worse than little ceasar's now., and current pizza hut is a grease pool who lost that flavor. Might as well get what you're expecting for the price.
“You can’t dine in a Little ceaser’s.” Nope, you have to eat it on the curb straight out of the box.
saves lettuce that way.😂😂😂
Wait…you got yours in a box?
You gotta eat it standing up in the lobby
Not on the curb you eat on one of the parking blocks
@@You2be-Sucks y'all eating out here?
Hot n ready was the ABSOLUTE main reason why I went to little Caesar’s. My family never planned pizza. It was always on a whim. We would be driving and see little Caesar’s and knowing the pizza was ready to go we would just get one. If we would have had to wait maybe half the time we would have just gone to Burger King
This is the part of the video where I think he glossed over and I agree was part of the turn around. When I was craving pizza, and didn't care if it was frozen or otherwise, you could walk into a location and walk out with it. I think this is really what put them back on the map. And you're spot on, when a large and in charge mom had a family to feed and didn't feel like cooking and didn't want to hear her kids and husband complain, pizza is the one thing virtually everyone can live with.
I really think Hot n Ready was a huge game changer for Little Caesars, no other pizza chain offers that option and sometimes it's just nice to stop by, grab an already made pizza and be on your way. Little Caesars signing up for some of the delivery services is also huge for them now, once in a while I'll drive for Door Dash and in one of the communities I go to Little Caesars is the restaurant I get most of my orders from.
The pizza actually is kinda good for the price.
It IS good! 👍
It is good & has improves even when the stuff crust promotion is around that is good pizza, cheaper than Pizza Hut stuffed crust. I want to try & will.try the $9.00 5 mest pizza.
it's my fave
Ewwww. Worst pizza ever.
CSDigitalDesign why its amazing m8, bad taste in pizza boy
Their bread sticks are IMMACULATE, me and my friend would walk to Little Caesar’s after school once a week just to get bread sticks!
I orgasm at the thought of there breadsticks
There's just something about those breadsticks that make me hungry lmao
Lucky you. I have one near me and they make meh pizza, used to be some of the best pizza for a franchise restaurant, but employees turned over so now they're meh, but their breadsticks have always been pure ass. Like misshapened blobs of dough that was flattened and baked until they're cooked but still white then cut. You ripped a piece off and that shit looked like a dumb bell or Quasimodo stretched out.
@@projectblitz7290 are you do have stupid
@@loganbrightwell780 how is that related to the comment? you didn't even get the meme right too.
I feel so sorry for the employees of my local Little Caesar's. They do FAR more business than the on-duty staff of 3-4 people should EVER be expected to handle. Every time I've gone there on a weekend evening to grab a couple pizzas, it has been complete chaos. 45+ minute waits just to get 2 regular pepperoni pizzas. 15+ angry, impatient customers crammed into the tiny lobby, all waiting for their pizzas at the same time. The phone just ringing and ringing off the hook. And the poor staff absolutely working their butts off, trying their best to keep up, but still just falling farther behind by the minute as more and more people jam into the lobby to place orders. Because of this chaos, my pizzas are almost always undercooked as they're rushed out of the oven and into boxes as fast as possible to try and keep up.
It looks like complete hell for the few staff members, and I'm genuinely pissed off at LC's ownership/management for allowing this to happen on a weekly basis. I can imagine that their employee retention is probably pretty low, when THAT is the work environment that employees are subjected to once they start work at that store. GET THEM SOME HELP ALREADY!
Welcome to the age of nobody wanting to work
I can tell you the exact reason for that, at least for the store I work at. Regional managers are constantly harping on store managers to cut hours so they can keep labor percentages low, meaning that on a Friday night (the busiest night of the week), there are usually only 4 people working at one time. Fridays usually net around $2,500. On New Years Eve we made almost $3,000 with 5 people working. Some nights it gets so bad that we have to take the phone off the hook and turn off Doordash orders just to be able to keep up. It's absolutely ridiculous.
Holy shit you described my job at little ceasers perfectly especially the phone do you come to my store?
@@anitabonghit7606 haha, maybe so! Props to you for putting up with that, your effort may not be appreciated by many, but it is by me! I like your name, I bet it's quite the fitting name for when you get off work each night lol 😂
@@SnarlyCharly hell yeah dude shit is lowkey really stressful but I try my hardest not to undercook or burn nothing im the one pulling the pizzas out the oven
The little Caesars inside Kmart were the best, they were not rushed to feed a drive thru line and took their time making the pizzas and they always looked liked the commercial ones. And the taste was so good
So true
Did y’all know that the CEO of little Caesar’s used to pay off Rosa Park’s rent when she was in Jail? That is why I support Caesars more than many other pizza chains
@@treemoderator7312 I'm in Canada, and I love my local Little Caesars. My cat was very sick for awhile, and the vet was right next to the little ceasers. While my cat was having tests done, twice a week, I would walk over to ceasers, while being very depressed. The guy who was always working there was always loudly singing and dancing in the back. Never failed to put a smile on my face during sad times.
qz.com/912541/mike-ilitch-owner-of-little-caesars-and-the-detroit-tigers-paid-rosa-parks-apartment-rent-for-11-years/
All of these stories are awesome ... thanks y’all
So glad someone already shared this. I remember reading that article when Mike Ilitch died in 2017. I like spending my money with them because of this. The fact their pizzas are super cheap is a huge draw too, obviously. 🙂
That was true when Mike Illitch paid Rosa Parks' rent. However, it was during her last years when she lived in a high-rise riverfront apartment building in downtown Detroit.
Fun fact: In Canada, Little Caesar’s’ slogan is “Hot ‘n Ready,” because Pizza Pizza is a popular Canadian pizza chain
They've started saying "pizza pizza" in the ads here now, though. Also, Pizza Pizza is TRULY bad pizza.
@@spazzwazzle agreed, Pizza Pizza tastes like cardboard
All Little Ceasars' slogan is now "Hot & Ready" these days.
I miss pizza pizza i think of LCs as the American version to make myself feel better
Pizza Pizaa has felt like the "no name" brand of pizza. Whenever you see consession stands it's safe to assume there'll be a Pizza Pizza there, whenever you go to a big movie theater, you can bet there'll be a Pizza Pizza set up, if you're in the mall, you don't have to go to far without seeing a Pizza Pizza. Pizza Pizza is all seeing and still doesn't taste that good
I worked at one in a college town in the 90s. We were one of the few locations that delivered. We delivered pizza with no cell phones and no GPS, just a huge map on the wall lol.
You got two pizzas but it was virtually by taking the ingredients for one pizza and dividing it between two pies.
I miss the cream cheese spread that came with the crazy bread back then.
After I left, I found out that one day the employees showed up for work and there was a padlock on the door. They could see inside that the ovens were gone. They never got their paychecks. I eventually went to work delivering for Papa John's. They paid minimum wage plus tips. I made a killing as a college student. I always had cash. I think it's outsourced today.
Can't speak for all locations, but delivery at my local PJs isn't entirely outsourced. They have drivers, but not as many as they need, so they use Doordash to fill the gaps. We all prefer a driver take it, but that doesn't always work out anymore.
That's crazy about that Little Cesar's, though. What a scam fr 😬
DoorDash has almost entirely taken over PJ's delivery.
A large pizza for $5 dollars? And it's hot and ready?! You simply cannot beat that.
All the pizza places in my area are pricey, granted they're local but Little Caesars has always been there. Shoot, I remember going to one not too long ago and getting TWO large pepperonis for not even $10, that's an absolute CRAZY price for the amazing pizza you get.
I prefer some of the mom and pop independently owned pizza places local to me in terms of quality, but in terms of value for the money Little Ceasars can't be beat.
I lived near Detroit in the 80s - early 90s, I still remember the excitement I would feel when dad or mom came home with that big ass two pizza package and a bag of crazy bread. It was gonna be a good night! I loved ripping that paper apart to reveal two pizzas, they were sitting there, looking at me, just asking for it. Now I'm in Texas and have watched LC pop up all over the place over the last 10-15 years. Not, gonna lie, I pop in and get a hot n ready every now and then...it brings back all the good feels from when I was a kid.
TheGuyATX that’s awesome!
That’s wholesome. Appreciate you sharing your story.
Has the taste changed much?
TheGuyATX I agree, it’s amazing how our memories are awakened from foo, smells etc. great way to put it
I remember those pizzas, I wish they still had them, and the pizza was delicious, it just tasteless and it's not the same anymore, they were better than domino's and pizza hut back then .
Hot N Ready is what really saved the company
brilliant imo.
More like stale n ready.
Horrible pizza thats been sitting long time
@@fortunecollector depends on how much traffic the store gets. the pizza here never stays there for long. they make a fresh one when it goes out.
@@daveheel guess all the little caesers in my home town(s) were a shit ton more popular than I thought, ive only ever had one experience where they should us a stale pizza and that was back when I was like 11, I'm 20 now
Yes because it's essentially fast food, or even faster than going through a drive thru. Fast food costs around 10$ now if you don't order from the value menu. You can get an entire pizza from LC for 6$ that feeds two people.
Bro…the pizza station at K-Mart was just plain nostalgia I miss those days…
Facts, I remember going to k mart as a kid and seeing Little Caesar’s pizza station. Good times going there and getting a toy lol also reminded me of McDonald’s inside Walmarts
Yes! I'd beg my dad for pizza when we'd go to the Kmart and he'd be like, uhhh okay sure, but it's gonna give you gut rot.
Man the little caesar in k-mart used to be so good lol.
Bruh the little Caesar dude looks like one of those guys in pink panther.
Lmfao
He does tho
artist was same
I am so glad i was not the only one who thought that 😂
Exactly, that is what makes it special and unique.
You see pizza dough is flat. However, when baked it rises. However, once removed from the oven it falls down a bit again. That is the rise and fall of Little Cesar's Pizza.
I love how you compare their success and failure to pizza dough lol
Wow
This punderful allegory wins the internet.
@@elizabethashley42 The sad this is I got a Domino's ad before the video started.
@@elizabethashley42 The wonderful thing of the internet is how a 14 year old can impress adults.
It's funny that the original Little Caesars restaurant was started by a Minor League Baseball player and it's most recent ad. Actually has Little Caesars running with a Detroit Lions linebacker.
Little Caesars is straight-up TRASH compared to the king of deep dish, Chicago-style pizza. The thick, crispy crust, the melted cheese, and the flavorful toppings - it's no contest. Little Caesars is like a cardboard box compared to the juicy, cheesy masterpiece that is Chicago-style pizza. And don't even get me started on tavern-style - that crispy, thin-crust goodness is in a league of its own. So, forget about Little Caesars and embrace the Chicago deep dish magic.
While usually "Hot & Ready," they never seem to be FRESH in the off-chance that I decide to pick one up. This is why I always add a topping or make a special request. Still not bad for the price, and their deep dish is easily better than PH's pan.
I mean that’s kinda the point. It’s hot and ready for the low price. So obviously you’re gonna eat an hour old pizza.
"is it fresh?-"
"doesn't matter. It's hot and ready."
It’s never fresh because we leave the same pizza in until someone buys it. The pizza sits at 150 degrees until it gets picked up after who knows how long. Basically it just makes the pizza go bad faster. Ur best bet is to get hot n ready on a busy night because everything’s constantly being replaced.
“$5 hot and ready pizza!”
“Is it good?”
“It’s hot. And it’s ready.”
My store at certain times mainly between 4pm and 6pm every pizza is made fresh due to dinner rush
Stolen
Blitzkrieg Bop-It: “I like this comment.”
Me: “Is it yours?”
Blitzkrieg Bop-It: *”Yes.”*
Me: *”No.”*
Stooooiooollllllleeeeennnnnnnn
Zenycho whooo cares
Little Caesars in my area is basically known as the place to go for something to fill you up if you're next to broke, needing to feed a ton of mouths on the cheap, or you just want to pinch some
pennies. And, none of that is meant to demean LC's in the slightest. Quite honestly it's a genius business model. LC's thrives in low-income areas. They are the Dollar General of fast food.
Bob Bop Perano for real. I mean if you have a couple kids and your in a hurry. Where else can you go and feed them for 5$. McDonald’s is gonna be a cool 20$ if you have three kids.
@@davidsandlin9686 yep
Where I’m from, I’ve never even seen a Little Caesar’s
When I was a poor college student I lived off LC $5 pizza and Costco's rotisserie chicken. Sometimes I'd get Costco's cheap hot dog but would skip on when money really was tight, $1.50 for one meal? Get out of here with that. To this day I'll still eat LC and it brings back fond memories. Maybe the cheapness of the quality can be offset by nostalgia?
I'm in Metro Detroit and I feel like a significant percentage of those 5,000 stores are just here. There's like four within easy driving distance of my job if we want to buy several pizzas for the office.
The Hot 'n' Ready was a stroke of brilliance that really saved them. Having pizza ready-to-go made their low-quality pizzas appealing. Only because you didn't have to wait for it to be made. It was just sitting in a heat rack - ready to be served.
One thing that yo might not have had the time to go into that may not have even existed outside of the Detroit area. But in the '90s, there actually WERE Little Caesars locations you could eat inside of. Caesarland was the company's attempt to have its own Chuck-E-Cheese (they opened in several old Chuck E. Cheese restaurants). They were quite large -- arcades, giant play sets. They even had characters of Caesar, Crazy Bread and others that had talking animatronics throughout the building. As a kid, I loved it. But I wonder if that was part of the drain on them. They didn't last super long.
As a father, I've found the Hot and Ready's to be a lifesaver with kids. It's an easy fix when dinner doesn't go right or you're rushing.
How are you not going to spend atleast 20 seconds explaining how Hot-N-Ready literally resurrected the company?
Zabs McGee seriously that part was completely insane at the time and he just mentioned it as an afterthought
Yup, that's exactly why I went back and go to little cesars
And the pizza portal is brilliant in and out in 30 seconds!
There are 2 Little Caesars in my region. One of them basically NEVER has anything ready and just makes the pizzas as the orders come in. I once frustratingly told them that it kind of beats the purpose of "Hot and Ready!" lol
@@toptenguy1 hmmm... wait ten minutes and get a fresh hot pizza or get a "hot and ready" one that was cooked 20 minutes ago that's barely even warm...
“Wanna get Little Caesers? It’s hot n ready!”
“Is it good?”
“It’s HOT, and it’s READY”
It be like that
It was good drunk food when we were young and didn't have a lot of money. Rest of the money went towards booze and cigarettes and we only needed 5 dollars for a pizza.
@@colinj5291 why you bringing back my repressed memories
Exactly what I came down here to say. Lol
They should use that in the commercials. 😂
I really love your channel! Thanks for the great videos. I used to love Little Caesars as a kid but I haven't had it in maybe 10 years. All these high res shots of sauce are making me want one.
My sister needed food for her Halloween party. We walked into a Little Caesars and walked out with 5 pizzas. The only wait was our time in line. Drunk people dressed as pirates aren't picky when it comes to food.
Imagine after economically suffering for years, 2 words increases your sales by $1,420,000,000
"Pizza Pizza" was catchy and quite effective. Every time I would see one of their stores that phrase would automatically come to mind, even during the years when they discontinued using it.
heheh 420 million nice
Was it corna virus?
@@drunkencowboi7934 No, you like-fishing shitstick.
doubling profit lol
Little Caesars: introduces $5 pizza, business skyrockets
Subway: cancels 5 dollar foot long, business plummets
Take notice companies
That's how mafia works
@@RickJames1983 HAHAHA damn this is good comment.
It could be all the child raping that hurt Subway.
Phillip The Thrillip subway is a over priced McDonald’s sandwich
If you call it “5 dollar footlong” paying $12 a damn meal
Found your channel a few days ago and now I can't stop watching! A trip down memory lane to say the least. All I remember as 90s kid is that their commercials were catchy. My dad would buy Little Caesars for me if I only wanted a Pepperoni Pizza as it was cheaper there compared to Pizza Hut. And also being able to eat at home was a plus compared to Pizza Hut when I think it was Dine in at the time. Then in my teenage years I just forgot about it. Just like your video said, the advertising just disappeared which was strange to me. Locations started closing and also the rise of Papa Johns definitely played a factor in it.
Fast forward to 2022, I will still visit this place once or twice a year if I'm craving Pizza on a Friday/Saturday evening. Their deep deep dish is actually really good for $8. That's all I have to say. :) Thanks for reading!
I'd pick Little Caesars over Pizza Hut, and Papa Johns any day.
Y’all can admit.. the crazy bread is mad good tho
Crazy bread with the sauce and holy fuck it's a gift from god
crazy bread yum
Serpentine Fire that’s just facts
Nah a few years ago they were really good but now not anymore
Lanky Gangster what happened ? Did quality go down.. I noticed this too they are whack and plain
It’s a good pizza for a good price when I don’t feel like cooking.
I hear that
Jazzy Bella Amen 🙏
I actually really like the pizza. I've had far better, sure, but I especially like their cheese. It's a combo of mozzarella and muenster which is pretty unique and has a great taste
I was particularly curious when I saw you made a video about this chain, because I remember it being a common "fun" dinner choice for my family and I when I was a youngster. We all noticed when they seemed to be fading, and lamented it. As they were becoming more of a fond memory than anything, we were tickled to find we were seeing them again. This video definitely fits the timeline. Glad to hear they have actually found ways to fix their problems instead of just collapsing like so many other businesses I remember from my childhood.
I can’t be the only one that genuinely likes the taste of the pizza more than the other three at the beginning. Then the background of it and price just tops it all off.
I'm with you on that. Granted, I grew up eating Little Caesars and rarely eating the others, so that might be part of the reason why, but they got damn good pizza and the price just makes it so much better.
i feel like maybe its just the places in my town, but little caesars is the ony one with a good pizza. i cant even eat the dominoes pizza in my town.
I've had all when growing up. The thing is the the illusion of the more expensive pizza being better, as the case with Papa Johns, stays until you disregard the price and realize the quality of the pizza. And that's where Little Caesars comes in.
Yessss! Little Caesars is so much better than the other big chains.
Excluding like dominos, I love little chasers the most
I always thought "pizza pizza" was their slogan, never knew it was a deal.
same lol
Pizza pizza is a pizza chain in Canada
I remember as a kid in the late 90s even though we didn't eat at Little Caesar's, I noticed that the ads disappeared, and asked my mom where the "pizza pizza" guy went. It was that noticeable that they dropped the ads.
There are four of us in our house. I can feed the whole family for $15. It’s a bargain, and I’m frugal (cheap). The $5 lunch special is a pretty good deal as well. I drive truck, and LC has helped me have a good lunch/dinner for $5. And, I never had a problem giving my hard earned money to the Illiches. Mike Illich was an awesome man, and humanitarian. When civil rights icon Rosa Parks was assaulted in her home, Mr. Illich moved her, and paid her rent for her until her death.
My dad calls it "Pizza! Pizza!" when the name is Little Caesars... imagine how the advertisement helps the franchisse.
my friends in Canada do too (which I thought was funny), but, later I found out that it's called Pizza! Pizza! up there
I am a 90s kid and thats how
I remember it. That commercial all the time lol
I can't hear the name without hearing that slogan. Whoever came up with that struck gold.
@@kathyhazelnut yea
I can just imagine walking down stairs and hearing this "hey son want some pizza pizza"
in my home town Little Ceasers tanked and had to close its shop in our towns most popular plaza. maybe a full decade later, they took that spot back and still have a restaurant there today.
This video almost perfectly examples that journey
I love boundary break
They tore down the building where my hometown's old Little Caesar's was. However, they brought back Little Caesar's in a different location. It's still going strong today.
Shesez it’s weird seeing you here lol
Shesez didn't expect you here
make a boundary break on Little Caesars
Little Caesars has always been a bit weird around me. They were HUGE for awhile because the local ones would add stuff on their own outside of corporate due to the military base and all of the people coming from all over the world to stay for training. I would say that Little Caesars was the ONLY place to get specialty pizzas. They went down a bit when they got cheap with the ingredients and lost a lot of business but now they are rocking and rolling again. In the "hood" area near me the Little Caesars is the only place that has not been robbed for years because so many of the parents of gang members use Little Caesars for a cheap dinner and people have been shot for trying to rob it or robbing right around it. They have been good enough recently that they are well worth the $5, definitely better than frozen pizza and a little under the more expensive Pizza Hut around here (Dominoes and Papa Johns around here SUCK).
Well said
You pulling next level respect when the gangbangers protect your store free of charge lol
I agree I think it's a great business model. Large pizza for $5 they have all the up sells they need available. In addition menu now offers the deep dish, extra most bestest and thin crust. which is only $1 or $2 more and well worth the price so for the customers willing to pay a little bit extra for better pizza they have that option as well. Those new menu options are the reason for their new found success. They have the budget pizza market locked in ready.
Love the history part of how company come about and how they last for so long.Branding is a big part of Business that people will remember if the product is good.
I worked there for a little over a year. Wether you like their pizza or not, the ingredients arent bad. The dough is mixed in an old school mixer from flour, salt, yeast, sugar and water every night and morning (small batch at night to have dough for morning pizzas) it is never frozen. The sauce is also mixed every morning. The toppings are usually quality and fresh.
It may not be the best tasting, but it definitely isnt low quality
I think alot of people come to assumptions based on the price and that it's a pizza chain, but they really do put in the work to make it fresh. The new Little Caesars in my town is great and they have the back opened up enough where you can see the mixer and a wall of bagged flour beside it, which is great. Shows the customers that they don't use frozen already made dough.
I've been working at Little Caesars for the past 2 and a half years and honestly I would say the quality of the pizza comes down to the care whoever makes it, gives it. Knowing this, it makes sense that the quality of the food is affected by the high expectations towards the company for delivering the service as quickly as possible, and having pizzas hot n' ready. If you expect good quality pizza that is hot and ready, don't. What you will likely get is hot n' sweaty. Try to get a fresh pizza and it will make a difference. If you want it to be fresh, fast, and don't want to feel like you are bothering people by asking for fresh food, you should try ordering something like a half pepperoni and half cheese because we don't have those ready, but they are really easy and fast to make. It should only take about 5 minutes for a great improvement in quality.
It's better quality then all the frozen crap at pizza hit or dominoes
WolframWolf They definitely have improved with the taste and the crust!! I’m picky about my pizzas cause I LOVE PIZZA and idk what they didzzzbut compared to what it was 2 years ago they have increased the price but the quality is much much better 👍🏽I’ve actually started going there instead of Pizza Inn the last few months
That's great to know!! I actually LOVE their pizza. Especially the 6 dollar extra most cheese an pepperoni pizza!!
The $5 hot and ready is a game changer when you have 2 dozen kids to feed at some activity. It saves a lot of money and makes it a go-to spot when on a budget... and the kids are oblivious to price point and quality level.
Todd Young pretty true until they hit their teens but even then most will get that childhood memory when eating and still like it
It's good when you just want something to grab on the way home for dinner. Kids are thrilled it's pizza, parents are thrilled you can get two larges for $10 plus tax, everyone's happy.
And honestly, the quality isn't bad at all as long as you eat it fresh. I like LC's more than Pizza Hut.
your videos are excellent man !!
The only pizza you can still taste when you burp 2 days after eating some
This is the most accurate statement I have ever seen!
Oddly accurate
I am thinking about a new type of restaurants: eating-spots
in eating-spots, food keeps changing, chefs also rotate
this is opposed to current restaurants,
thanks to this rotation of food and chefs, eating-spots are more powerful than restaurants,
along with that, there is an app,
people vote for the food that will be cooked in the next days
menu is influenced by the live input of the people via an app.
It's what they call "a long finish".
@@Zo-hc2fn that’s actually a pretty good idea.
little caesers: Its hot and it’s ready
me: but is it good?
little caesers: its HOT and it’s READY
Its cheap af too
HEY... that's my pick up line
And it's IN YOUR AREA
I've heard this joke before. It's good, because even though it's riffing on Little Caesars, it highlights what makes them successful. They just focus on what they're good at, and what other companies don't focus as much on, and they found a nice little niche for themselves. It doesn't need to be the best pizza because its the quickest and the cheapest, and surprisingly not many other pizza places focus on just those two things.
It IMO is not Pizza, it is Chewy Dough Sticks with Cheese Food and Ketchup
They never missed a lick during the COVID panic because their business model was already optimized for the situation they found themselves in. An update to see where these chains rank today would be interesting.
I gotta be honest. Even setting price aside, I would pick Little Caesars over Pizza Hut and Dominoes just on taste. No Papa John's around where I live.
But I'd still pick Pizza Delight, a rather expensive Canadian chain, over any of them.
Thanks to Little Caesars all the pizza joints had to lowered their prices....!
True lol
oh my goodness, you're Right!
Following the $5.00 footlong success of subway, it was a brilliant move to hit that pricepoint for familys struggling after the financial meltdown. Pizza is the cement that holds the universe together, and when you can bring your family around a dinner table, or your employees around a conference table for under $20.00 all in, that's American Ingenuity at its finest. .
Pizzas in my country cost 30
@@reemaalmu9172 move to a better country>? make your own pizza?
@@spaghettimeatball probs 30 of their currency is $5
Pizza is also the cement that clogs my bowels
@@cwalke32477 I think you are using it wrong.
Dude they're getting incredible BIG here in Mexico, their pizza is decent and they're way cheaper than Pizza Hut and Domino's and that's what it counts on the Mexico market.
Their locals have queques almost all the time and whenever you see a person walking in the streets with a pizza box it's either Little Caesar's or a local city franchise.
I'm commenting a little late, but I'm in Mexico and Little Caesars is huge here. It all started, from what I can recall, maybe in 2015 or perhaps later. Little Caesars had some locations here but they were ignored to the point of being practically inexistent. I knew a location before 2015 but I never went there. Fast-forward to 2015 and Little Caesars started to open locations in low income neighborhoods, marketed very heavily towards their 'hot and ready' mode of business, and also were and still are the cheapest pizzas around. They started around $4.00 for their pepperoni hot and ready and around $7.00 for their crazy bread and pizza combo and they were and still are massively successful. Probably because I've grown fond of Little Caesars I prefer their pizzas, but definitely they've grown to almost a household staple here in Mexico.
Little Caesars is straight-up TRASH compared to the king of deep dish, Chicago-style pizza. The thick, crispy crust, the melted cheese, and the flavorful toppings - it's no contest. Little Caesars is like a cardboard box compared to the juicy, cheesy masterpiece that is Chicago-style pizza. And don't even get me started on tavern-style - that crispy, thin-crust goodness is in a league of its own. So, forget about Little Caesars and embrace the Chicago deep dish magic.
@Johnny-34079 Good thing Detroit deep dish and Chicago deep dish are two completely different kinds of pizza. I've had Gino's East's deep dish and it's been one of the best pizzas I've had.
But I think it's a little naive, to say the least, comparing a $6 pizza that, while they're fresh, they aren't made at the moment to a +$20 pizza. At least when it's the difference from being a full affordable dinner to a pizza costing literally two days wages (more like four back then).
@@ADudOverTheFence1 Oh, listen up, my little friend. There's no contest - Chicago pizza reigns supreme, easily destroying little Caesars. Thick, fluffy crusts, juicy toppings, and flavors that'll make your taste buds do a happy dance. Little Caesars? More like little loser. Step aside, kiddo, because the king of pizza is from Chicago, and its throne is untouchable!
Little Caesars was a major part of my childhood. Growing up in the Great Recession and only having one parent meant that money was obviously very tight, and little caesars was the best way for my dad to feed his two boys for cheap.
💪🏻🇺🇸💪🏻🇺🇸💪🏻🇺🇸💪🏻🇺🇸
you too huh? as you can imagine the great recession was not a good time economically for parents to divorce so im glad us three siblings still got to enjoy family pizza movie night, we dont really do it anymore because everyone always argues with each other but it's good memories
Your dad's a f****** Champ
same here brother
The great recession 🤣🤣🤣🤣
I heard their founder use to pay Rosa Park’s rent for years and didn’t really talk about it.
That’s pretty cool
Jason Pollywog ye, they did, while she was in jail, and a little while after, I believe
@@iamacatperson7226 not true... He took over rent in 94 after she was robbed at home and continued on until her death in the 2000s
Dude was just a good guy
They were really hard core Christians, I recall them showing up at our college for recruiting and the first thing out of the reps mouth when your interview started was, a firm and handshake and the rep saying, "I'm a god fearing Christian, how are you?" I only remember that because it just struck me as the strangest thing ever.
@Sad Cheese lol i doubt that.
It's shame Little Caesar's in Australia failed and crumbled under massive debt. I had a store nearby, and I loved going there to get myself an Ultimate Supreme pizza (which I still maintain was better than both a Dominos or Pizza Hut supreme), along with some wings and crazy bread for a very, very good price. They even had two or three little tables at my little local store, so I could eat in! :) I genuinely miss it.
Damn, sounded like a chill little spot to enjoy some pizza at a good price, that’s sad
The problem with all these restaurants food chains is they change the ingredients, once u do that the food loses it's identity.
If I have learned anything from watching your channel all these years it is this: I should be in advertising.
I love how nobody really has a problem with Little Caesar’s. At most, people will just say they don’t really prefer it, but on the other hand people have no problem absolutely tearing into Dominoes and Pizza Hut for mediocre pizza. People’s reaction to Little Caesar’s is almost always either “I love it!” or “meh.” Which says a lot about how appealing the brand is
Seriously, when you’re charging $5-$10 more for a marginal increase in quality, people are definitely going to feel like they’re being duped! Little Caesar’s is good in my opinion and definitely great for the money!
Pizza hut is shit. at least in my town little ceasars is better quality than pizza hut.
Idk, I think Little Caesars is pretty bad. It's almost microwave tier pizza.
Clinton Leonard Depends on your area, really. Some Franchisees don’t care about the quality and I’ll say if you do get a bad item from Little Caesar’s it is really bad.
$5 ain't bad for slightly above microwave quality pizza especially if you don't want to spend the time cooking the pizza yourself.
For 5 years of my life, I really thought this place was called “Pizza, Pizza”, really disappointed me when I found out the real name.. lmao
There is a Canadian pizza place called Pizza Pizza, it's pretty popular aswell
@@sadiqsb5054 When I read this comment I thought of Pizza Pizza in Canada (thought it existed in America). Maybe he the OP confused the two resteraunts?
how you still alive homie?
colin3ds fr
same
I’m surprised you didn’t mention the Chuck E Cheese style locations they opened. Those were awesome.
They had some great pizza also.
I love your videos. After watching your videos, I see businesses in a different light. I am a loyal little Caesars customer and even more so now that I know their history.
I used to work at little C and all the ingredients and dough where fresh af dough made was used for no more than a few days and if the pizzas weren’t sold after 30-45 min they were thrown out. Nothing but quality in my experience at least at the store I worked
I don't know how long ago that was, but my store is still like that; pizzas don't sit in the box for more than 30 minutes and the dough is made daily, it's one of the ways they save money to make the dough is way cheaper than ordering it. That's why a thin crust is more expensive, they order those premade.
Sounds like you had a pretty good one, the one near me tastes like they don't sell them until they are 30-45min old. I still bought it tho because it was so cheap when it was within walking distance...
The workers were allowed to take them too if they weren't all sold.
At least, that's what one of my uncles told me who worked at one
>throwing out perfectly good pizza
What is wrong with you
To the people who wonder about throwing out good pizza, we take all the standard pepperoni and cheese pizzas and put them in the walk in to donate to a soup kitchen twice a week. All of the other items, employees are allowed to eat once they leave the box. This way, the employees actually take the pizza out instead of letting it go until it sells to avoid more work because anything we take out is ours. Kinda smart imo
When I was using leftover subsidary loan funds to feed myself, there were 3 things you learned. 1: The hills on the way to campus are steeper on bike. 2: 6 bucks can feed you pizza and breadsticks for 2 nights. 3: Cookout is the true treasure of the South.
Cookout tray is where its at. $5 for a double hamburger, two chicken wraps, and a milkshake to wash it down.
Cookout is amazing
facts, people sleep on cookout
cookout is absolutely a godsend
I am thinking about a new type of restaurants : eating-spots,
in eating-spots, food keeps changing, chefs also rotate,
this is opposed to current restaurants,
thanks to this rotation of food and chefs, eating-spots are more powerful than restaurants,
along with that, there is an app,
people vote for the food that will be cooked in the next days,
menu is influenced by the live input of the people via an app
I remember bringing home the giant 2-pizza box back in the 90s, good times. I still go there every so often, love the thin crust or a Hot and Ready if I'm feeling impatient.
Never had their pizza but I do know they open in areas where most companies don’t and that their prices and deals really go along way to helping families feed multiple people. Great business mode 👌🏼
"You can't dine inside of a Little Caesars."
Challenge accepted!
It's actually a health code violation to allow customers to eat inside the lobby without being a permitted dining establishment. So, you can try, but you can rightfully be asked to leave if you do.
@@turntsnaco824 What if you buy a single pizza slice, eat it inside in 30 seconds flat?
WooferJr I worked there and we don’t sell by the slice. We had a bunch of teenagers try to eat in the lobby and we had to ask them to leave
I love how seriously this has been taken. 😅
That said...Pretty sure I could inhale a slice before security arrived.
A couple locations near me allow you to dine there. Hell I had a birthday party there once.
That $5.00 hot and ready is the best deal in fast food, IMO. With PEPPERONI lol
It is a foul-tasting laxative in pizza form.
Dirt Muhgert nope not really it’s pretty good
playboymaxim it’s nasty AF
Tn Girl54 it’s really not
@@donkeykong4983 it's awful. It's a mixture of the lowest quality ingredients available. If they could, they'd get all their stuff from china. It should be declared unfit for human consumption.😄
i am a die hard little ceasers person. i love little ceasars, only from my hometown. theres something about it i just cant stave away. i like dominos, papa john's, jets, and all of the small town joints aside a few but little ceasars is my go to.
I used to work at little Caesars on and off for 2 years. I loved working there. It was super chill and easy to manage a store
I work as a manager right now at Little Caesars, while in college. I’ll tell you in my personal store the management is a wreck. Specifically the higher management. But man, our place gets slammed every evening. Nothing is stopping business.
I know what you mean man
I used to be a crew member. Almost became an assistant manager but declined because of upper management
What were/are the issues?
I used to work in the busiest store in our area and we would get absolutely raped almost everyday. Although, It was fun while I worked there.
Wow, I want to get raped at work too, where do I sign up?
the white house@@louiepatouie4168
I hope whoever came up with the "Pizza! Pizza!" phrase got a bonus cuz it is catchy as hell. I almost never eat Little Caesars, but that phrase pops into my head all the time. Even better for them, unlike a lot of other ads, I've never found it irritating.
You found the absolute best Little Caesars locations to feature here.
I think Little Caesar’s is one of those places that you know what you’re getting for the price. It’s a $5-$7 pizza. You’re not expecting a gourmet pizza. It’s great I think when you have to feed a lot of people or just don’t feel like cooking for your family. It’s also my go to pizza for dnd nights
In the 80’s, my mom and I would clean the house on Thursdays, Order Little Caesar’s, and watch the NBC Thursday night line up. I LOVED Thursday nights!
Yup, Friday nights were always grab a pizza pizza and rent some new vhs movies. Those were the days.
in the 90's as a kid I loved little ceaser and blockbuster fridays! I feel like my childhood was way better than kids nowadays!
man we all have those happy memories my mom worked friday night so we would go out to eat chinesse or that pizza all you can eat then go to the dollar store and stuff got shopping then drop me off at my grandmaws and she would pick me up taco bell i really remmber getting taco bell at watching that star wars animated thing on cartoon network about 2002 i think maybe later
Michael Johnson
Friday was us hiding knowing our dad would come home drunk and beat our mom and one of us. We never had a VCR because he always broke them. Life never got better until my mom killed him.
sounds comfy
Everyone hyped about the $5 Hot-N-Ready for good reason, but it’s the $8 Stuffed Crust that gets me!
Serpentine Fire Amen to that
@@christianfortner ye
To me is the thin crust! MMmm..
True!!!!!
@@monicar.l.6309 oomg yessss, I need to get some todayy. 😫
My local Little Caesars opens up (it's a new store) in a few hours (it's 2am right now, they open up at 10:30am) I'm probably hitting it up. I used to work there, my friend is a manager who started shortly after me.
It's been so long since my portion of town had one so I'm going to be getting my regular order and seeing who they have running it
broooo, kmart little ceasars was lit. i remember when they had the slice with soda for like 4$. i still love it now
I never act like I'm too good for Little C's. They were there when Pizza Hut didn't even look at my broke ass. Whenever I feel like grabbing a quick pizza, they're my number one choice. Good for their price? More like damn good for their price.
It's way better than people say... yeah it's a $5 pizza, but that shit is good
Fern At half the price of other pizza chains, they are much better than half as good. So I would say that is good pizza for the money.
And their garlic dip is like heaven on Earth. Little Ceaser’s is the bomb
@@tofuyuhiko5632 Ohhh that reminds me! Their "Cheezy Jalapeño" dip is incredible! I will sometimes go by just to buy 4 of those dips and then use them on other restaurant's pizza. It reminds me of skating rink nacho cheese (you know what I am talking about!) but with more cheddar flavor. If you haven't tried it, pick one up and give it a shot.
Oh man, I’ve never tried it but now I have to!