NEPAblogging - NEPA #1 in Pizza Joints

Today, the Times-Tribune is reporting that a restaurant industry survey has concluded that the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre/Hazleton metro area is has the highest amount of pizza shops per capita in the nation. In fact, the area has more than double the national average.

There are 5.31 pizza outlets per 10,000 people in the region, while the national average was 2.2 pizzerias per 10,000 people.

We beat out Atlantic City/Cape May, which comes as a bit of a surprise. Let me hear a big ol' shout out for NEPA, for whatever the fact is worth. I suppose this comes as no surprise, really. The Scranton Yellowbook has 7 pages devoted to "Pizza" yellow pages listings. Thinking about it, pizza places are just about as common as bars, churches and funeral homes around here. Old Forge has their self-declared "Pizza Capital of the World" marketing campaign. Hell, even my Uncle's family owns a downtown pizza shop.

Given that "Nation's Restaurant News" was the source of the data, I'd like to recommend they do a similar study focusing on "Bars, Taverns & Pubs" per capita. I'm sure we'd blow our already impressive "more than double the national average" margin on pizza places away. It would be good to finally cement the reputation as the "Best Place to Get Loaded for Cheap" with some solid data. Personally, I'm going to celebrate by grabbing me a Large Pie and a few Twelve Packs! Who's in?

(full top ten list here.)

technorati tag: scranton