In a shock development for anyone who agrees that pineapple has no business being on a pizza, olives have been found to be the nation's least favourite topping according to Irish-owed chain Four Star Pizza.
For as long as we have been eating pizza, there has been great debate as to whether pineapple belongs on a pizza. However, statistics released by Four Star Pizza suggest that olives are an even more questionable ingredient.
The company has trawled through more than 750,000 pizza orders from its 61 stores across Ireland (including 15 in the North ) to get the lowdown on what was hot, and what was not, in 2020 when it comes to the country’s favourite pizza toppings.
Unsurprisingly, pepperoni takes the crown as the most popular topping in every store – featuring on more than a quarter (26.2 per cent ) of all ‘create your own’ pizzas ordered in the last year.
Ham (14.2 per cent ) and chicken (12.85 per cent ) are ranked second and third across the island, but the really tasty news is at the bottom of the toppings table, with olives now officially the least favourite pizza topping in Ireland.
Meanwhile, by comparison, the much-maligned pineapple is riding relatively high at number eight in the popularity stakes, appearing on 4.85 per cent of pizzas across Ireland.
The most popular vegetarian option on the menu, and fifth in the overall rankings, was mushrooms - which were included on 7.45 per cent of all pizzas ordered, followed by onions (6.55 per cent ) and sweetcorn (6.4 per cent ).
According to Four Star Pizza director Brian Clarke, the figures clearly show that olives are the country's least favourite pizza topping.
“Our figures show that, of all of ‘create your own’ pizzas sold on the island of Ireland, only one in every 60 contains olives, compared to approximately one in every 20 containing pineapple – which has been, somewhat unfairly according to our figures, the focus of huge debate for years," he said. “So I propose that we change the focus of the great pizza debate and ask ourselves… do olives belong on a pizza?”
Four Star Pizza is inviting people to participate in the ‘olives on pizza’ debate by casting their vote at fourstarpizza.ie/irelands-most-and-least-popular-pizza-toppings-revealed/ with a chance to win a year’s supply of free pizza… with or without olives.
