It’s Election Day, so in Charlotte and in newsrooms around the country, we’re all eating pizza.
It’s a greasy, cheesy, carby, meaty tradition in our Charlotte newsroom, along with newsrooms all around the country.
It’s election night 2024, which also means it’s pizza night for journalists. Tonight will be all hands on deck — reporters, editors, photographers and videographers, social media crews. We all pitch in, and it often means working late hours.
There’s a certain buzz in the air on nights like these, attributed to too many cups of strong, black coffee combined with the camaraderie of time with coworkers during an hour normally reserved for catching up on “Love is Blind” in pjs and a face mask before bed. There’s of course, the anticipation of fast-approaching deadlines that will inevitably collide with too-slow returns.
Pizza somehow calms all those jitters and brings joy to the chaos. Is this the magic of carbs?
“Who ordered from the worst chain restaurant again?” we always complain as we dig in anyway. Because we all know there’s actually no such thing as bad pizza.
The Charlotte Observer typically goes for an election pie standby: Papa John’s. But for the 2024 election, we’re going elite, managing editor Taylor Batten tells me. Our newsroom’s election team will fuel up on slices from Giacomo’s on Berkley Place Drive.
Election nights: A busy night for pizzerias around the country
Journalists aren’t the only ones planning delivery orders, either. Pizza is a popular choice nationwide on election nights.
“We know that it’s not just busy newsrooms ordering pizza on election night, though they do submit some pretty impressive orders,” Domino’s chief marketing officer Joe Jordan told NBC News ahead of the 2016 election. Domino’s expects a double digit increase in orders on election nights, the company stated at the time. That same year, Doordash sold 46 percent more pizza on election night than on a typical Tuesday, according to the BBC.
Cakes are another popular item, but that’s another story.
As we all remember, the most recent presidential election was during the first year of the pandemic, and in Charlotte, our editor gave us vouchers for free Domino’s. I still remember eating it at my then-makeshift desk in the dining room, feeling extra connected to colleagues via Slack and our virtual meal, but with my very own Handmade Pan cheese pie. As a vegetarian, I didn’t even have to fret about someone placing an order for too many MeatZZa and not enough meatless pizzas.
Again, it was a national trend: Newsweek reported that voters officially turned to pizza, along with alcohol and marijuana, to get through 2020 election night. (If that’s your jam, you might like the new frozen hemp-derived THC-infused pizza from Libretto’s Pizzaria that Axios Charlotte reported on yesterday.)
Here we are again: It’s election night 2024, and there are two main things you need to know ahead of placing a pizza order in the Charlotte area: A) How busy will it be, and B) Are there any specials? Let’s dig in.
Toppers Pizza + Mama Ricotta’s: Election Day pizza deals
At Toppers Pizza — which has four Charlotte-area locations and is adding more — Election Day is typically a pretty big sales day.
“Pizza has both sides of the aisle covered. It’s an easy catering option for poll workers, a quick and easy meal for voters to pick up on their way home from the polls, or the perfect late night delivery snack to watch results come in,” a Toppers spokesperson told CharlotteFive.
Toppers has a special Election Day Deal: a large one-topping Pizza or Triple Original ‘Stix for carryout for only $5.99. “We recommend making a voting plan. And of course, ordering the Election Day Deal after you do.”
FS Food Group restaurants also has an Election Day discount, which includes pizza. Get 10 percent off by voting for your favorite participating dishes (Pizza10 vs Pasta10) when you order online for takeout only from Mama Ricotta’s. “Together, let’s savor the flavors that unite us. Vote deliciously! May the best dish win!,” the restaurant group said via email. We’re not gonna tell you which dish to vote for, but you should definitely vote for pizza.
Not every local pizzeria is anticipating the same level of increased ordering as the national chains, however. Bird Pizzeria isn’t even open on Tuesdays (which I was reminded of the hard way, by trying to place an election night order last week. Foiled!)
And Wilmington-based Wheelz Pizza COO Joy Sprenger told us that Election Days don’t typically see a spike in orders. “Your email did have me thinking maybe I should consider doing something in the future,” she wrote in an email to C5’s Heidi Finley. As a huge fan of Wheelz, I would relish a sourdough election pie — so I like the sound of that!
Still, it’s probably a good idea to place your order early, no matter what type of pizza you’re craving. Heidi ordered Donato’s Pizza on Halloween, and she told me she found success by pre-ordering early in the day. “We still got our pizza about 10-15 minutes after the time, but many many others were standing around waiting,” she said.
Pizza to the Polls
But hey, not everyone did early or absentee voting. So what about the people who set aside tomorrow to actually go vote? Won’t they be standing in line and not at home enjoying a slice?
Someone has already thought of that. Insert Pizza to the Polls, a nonprofit which has been delivering pies to voters in line around the country since 2016.
If you find yourself in a long voting line today, here’s what you do: Fill out a submission form on the company’s website. Include the address of your polling place, how long the wait is, and if you’re a voter, poll worker or poll watcher. Upload a picture of the line, then add your name and number. Volunteers will verify the line, then will send pizza your way (likely using Slice to source local pies, or maybe a food truck). It usually takes around 90 minutes, then you can help distribute if you like.
And just remember: As pizza is nonpartisan, so is this effort — slices are to be shared with everyone.
Heidi Finley contributed.
This story was originally published November 5, 2024 at 6:00 AM.
