MOSES LAKE, Wash. — Behold the Hochstatter Special.

It’s been a fixture on the menu at Chico’s Pizza Parlor in Moses Lake, Wash., for more than 50 years.

It’s a giant of a pizza.

Ask the workers at Chico’s how much of each ingredient goes on a Hochstatter Special, and they’re not entirely sure.

“Honestly, we don’t measure,” owner Jennifer Wahl said.

A large Hochstatter Special uses: 2/3 of a pound of flour, 3 cups of tomato sauce, 4 cups of cheese, 12 pieces of Canadian bacon, “two healthy handfuls” of pepperoni and black olives and 30 strips of bacon.

In the U.S., pizzas — even those that aren’t quite as imposing as the Hochstatter Special — have an enormous impact on farmers and ranchers. Americans eat an estimated 3 billion pizzas a year, according to Bill Oakley, director of the International Pizza Expo, an annual conference in Las Vegas. Worldwide, 5 billion pizzas are eaten.

“It couldn’t be more important,” Oakley said of the impact pizza has on agriculture. “Whether it’s dough, sauce, cheese and toppings — they’re all coming from farmers and ranchers.”

The top four pizza toppings in the U.S. are pepperoni, sausage, mushroom and extra cheese, according to Pizza Today magazine. Bacon recently broke into the top five for the first time.

“There’s never been more toppings available to consumers,” Oakley said. “No matter where you come from, what you like, it can be adapted to a pizza.”

A typical week

Chico’s, one of about 78,000 pizza parlors in the U.S., makes between 1,100 and 1,200 pizzas most weeks and double that in the summer.

Everything is made from scratch and prepared fresh each day, said Wahl, the owner.

Chico’s employs 16 to 20 people, with a few more who help during the busy summer.

In a typical week, the restaurant uses:

• 1,000 pounds of flour in the regular season, and 1,300 pounds in the summer.

• 800 pounds of tomato puree for the sauce, which is made using a “secret family recipe” that includes oregano and a gallon of “a little ingredient that is the most important,” said Ana Servin, a longtime employee in charge of ingredients.

• The restaurant uses three types of cheese: 768 pounds of mozzarella, 342 pounds of cheddar and 128 pounds of provolone. During the summer, the total jumps 300 pounds, Servin said.

• 360 pounds of pepperoni.

• 80 pounds of Canadian bacon slices.

• 100 cases of bacon. Each case has 500 slices, for a total of 50,000 slices, about 2,500 pounds.

• 120 large cans of black olives, equaling 360 pounds.

The restaurant has several sources for its ingredients, including distributor U.S. Foods and local processor Vern’s Custom Meat Processing.

“We have a special blend, with special secret spices that we use,” Wahl said of the beef and sausage.

Up to 80% of Chico’s ingredients come from around the region, U.S. Foods territory manager Josh Julian said.

Global impact

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Dough

Nearly 90% of pizzerias make their dough in-house, according to Pizza Today’s 2022 industry report.

Dough is often made from hard red spring wheat, but restaurants use various blends of flour depending on their goals, said Tim O’Connor, president of the Wheat Foods Council.

Josh Sosland, an editor at Sosland Publishing, which produces Food Business News and Milling & Baking News, said a pizza typically has half a pound of flour.

In the U.S., that would total 1.5 billion pounds of flour. That’s 35.7 million bushels of wheat — equal to Colorado’s entire wheat crop last year.

Worldwide, 2.5 billion pounds of flour are used. That’s nearly 60 million bushels of wheat, almost the size of Oklahoma’s wheat crop.

Tomato sauce

“We all like our red sauce on the pizza,” said Mike Montna, president and CEO of the California Tomato Growers Association. “It’s a definite, significant part of the market.”

Up to 96% of U.S. tomatoes come from California, whose farmers produced nearly 10.5 million tons of tomatoes in 2022.

About 75% to 80% of California’s crop goes into tomato paste, which can be remade into ketchup and sauces.

Montna did not have specific figures for the amount of tomatoes devoted to pizza, but using Chico’s recipe of 3 cups of sauce per Hochstatter Special, that’s 9 billion cups of tomato sauce used nationwide. That much sauce would require nearly 12,000 tons of tomatoes — the weight of an oil tanker.

Cheese

Most mozzarella “can easily be assumed” to be going for pizza, said Byron Pfordte, vice president of integrated communications at Dairy West, which promotes the industry on behalf of Idaho and Utah dairy farmers.

One gallon of milk will make 1 to 1.25 pounds of mozzarella, Pfordte said.

Roughly 4 billion pounds of mozzarella was consumed in the U.S. in 2021, which equates to about 40 billion pounds of milk. It takes about 1.9 million cows a year to produce that much milk. That’s about 19% of the U.S. dairy herd.

Pizza is “extremely important” for dairy farmers, Pfordte said.

Demand for fluid milk is declining slightly, but people are consuming more cheeses on pizza and other foods, Pfordte said.

“Providing something that is enjoyable and that people look forward to, that brings a lot of pride to dairy farmers,” he said.

Pork

“The pig absolutely dominates the pizza for Americans,” said Jason Menke, director of consumer public relations for the National Pork Board.

And how. In addition to Top 5 ingredients pepperoni, sausage and bacon, Pizza Today lists ham, Canadian bacon and salami at No. 9, No. 14 and No. 20, respectively.

“There is probably no other animal that provides as much versatility or variety than the pig does,” Menke said.

The USDA projects 66.7 million hogs will go to market this year.

Menke didn’t have firm numbers for the amount of pork used on pizzas.

“We know that it’s a lot,” he said. “Certainly that is a significant portion of the dollars we see on the processed side of the business.”

A 250-pound pig yields 144 pounds of retail cuts, according to the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture. Chico’s uses 2,940 pounds of pork a week, about 20 pigs. Over a year, that’s 1,000 pigs for just one pizzeria. Depending on their recipes, other pizza parlors would use more — or less.

Black olives

California produces 98% of the ripe table olives in the U.S. They’re alternate-bearing crops, so the number fluctuates each year, from 20,000 tons one year up to 90,000 tons the next, said Todd Sanders, executive director of the California Olive Committee. He expects the estimate for this year’s crop in July.

The food service sector, including pizza restaurants, is dominated by imported olives, which are sliced and “cheaper quality,” Sanders said.

Each year, olive processors reach out to the food service industry.

“We would like them to be purchasing California olives as much as possible, but our price point is a little higher than what they’re willing to pay,” Sanders said. “It would be a huge market for us. It is a large portion of the market. Pizza is huge in the food service sector in general.”

As growers convert to mechanical harvesting and high-density planting, California farmers will be more competitive, Sanders said.

Pineapple

Most pineapple comes from Central America, said Robert Paull, researcher in the Department of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Pineapple production in Hawaii has declined in the last 20 years. Actual production data is not readily available, Paull said.

The last pineapple cannery in Hawaii on Maui closed in 2007.

“It was difficult to compete with cheaper products from the Philippines, Thailand and Central America,” he said.

Besides Hawaii, some production takes place in Puerto Rico, with small operations in Florida and California, he said.

Total U.S. production in 2021 was about 168,000 metric tons.

U.S. production is mainly sold as fresh fruit, with some minimal processed products and juice.

“How much goes into pizza is a mystery and I do not know if there are any data on that question,” he said.

Most pineapple on pizza is canned, possibly because of convenience, product consistency and the lower price of canned fruit, he said. Since U.S. pineapple is sold mainly as fresh fruit, little would potentially be used for pizza except maybe in Hawaii and Puerto Rico.

“Pineapple chunks are often widely used in Chinese dishes, such as sweet and sour-style dishes, and it would be interesting to know whether this usage is greater than that on pizza,” Paull said.

Future demand

Pizza Today’s report expects the world pizza market, valued at more than $140 billion, to increase by $42.2 million by 2025, with North America expected to see 44% of that growth.

Oakley, with the pizza expo, expects consumption to continue to increase.

“It adapts to any culture, consumer taste and preference,” he said. “If you go to a high-end pizzeria these days, they really are looking to improve their craft and have that passion.”

Like any business, pizzerias struggle with labor, supply channels and inflation, he said. Overseas sources are hard to guarantee, so many pizzerias are buying domestically or farm to table, sourcing ingredients locally.

But they’re able to pass those costs on to their customers, who are still willing to pay the going price, he said.

“Most pizzerias out there are doing better than they’ve ever done,” he said.

Meanwhile, at Chico’s they continue to pour on the toppings.

“Most pizzerias are not packing on the toppings like we are, they’re counting out to the ounce what they’re putting on,” Wahl said. “I think we’re doing something pretty unique: In a time where everything is, ‘How can I serve you less and charge you more?’ we’re still putting topping after topping after topping on those pizzas.”

And among the beneficiaries are the many farmers and ranchers who supply them with their ingredients, one pizza at a time.