When you order a pizza online, wait a few minutes, and have your doorbell app alert you that the delivery driver is outside, do you ever wonder where this process began?

Before technology made ordering delicious pizza as simple as sending a selfie or catching the bus, pizza lovers had quite the challenge to acquire their favourite calzone or stuffed crust.

Read on to learn about where pizza delivery began, and why we have so much to thank the humble Margherita for.

Wind the clock back to 1889, before the banana split (1904), before chocolate brownies (1906), and even before the club sandwich (1903)! This is the year that Queen Margherita (wife to King Umberto I of Italy) became the first person to order a pizza for delivery.

As pizza legend has it, Margherita grew tired of the French cuisine that European royalty was constantly cooking up in their kitchens, and asked someone to "surprise me”. Ok, that may not be a direct quote; in fact, some sources say she ate rotten food in Naples, fell ill, and sought fresher options from further afield. Tomato, tomato (and mozzarella and basil). 

Either way, the royals fancied a slice of the good stuff, so they summoned Chef Raffaele Esposito, the most prestigious pizza chef in the region (this is long before Papa Johns was on the scene, mind) to cook for them. Queen Margherita apparently asked for three different pizzas to be made so that she could choose her favourite, and Esposito delivered. Literally. 

1. Pizza Napoli with anchovies was not to the Queen’s liking. 
2. Pizza Mariana, with garlic, also didn’t suit her tastebuds.
3. But, a mozzarella, tomato, and basil pizza (inspired by the colours of the Italian flag) went down a treat. 

And, thus, the world-famous Margherita was born, as Esposito named his creation after the queen.

Esposito worked in the Pizzeria Brandi, where the alleged royal pizza delivery request note still hangs today. Emphasis on alleged, there. Many historians have questioned the legitimacy of the note on account of it’s unusual royal stamp, and even the stationary it was written on. 

Pizza myth or stone-baked truth, we’re just grateful that you don’t have to hand write a pizza delivery request note to order your favorite slices anymore.

There were a number of innovations that gave pizza delivery a helping hand from the 1960s onwards. 

• In 1960, the robust, corrugated pizza box was invented to allow steam to exit while keeping the pizza free from being flattened while en route. These stackable boxes made it much easier for chains to deliver crisp, hot pizzas en masse. 

• At this point, people were ordering their pizzas over the phone and companies began to own private vehicles to cater to all the deliveries. 

• In 1974, in an innovative experiment by John Eulenberg, a man called Donald Sherman used a computer-to-voice device to order a pizza to be delivered successfully. 

• In 1984, the thermal pizza delivery bag was invented by Ingrid Kosar to keep pizzas warm and prevent drinks from spilling while being delivered. This was a real game-changer for the quality of delivered pizzas.

• In 1994, the first pizza was ordered online via computer as part of Pizza Hut’s ‘Pizza Net’ experiment. 

• By 1997, ordering pizza online was becoming more widespread, leading to a boom in pizza delivery.

Over 20 years later, apps and AI have made it even easier to order your favourites and get them delivered to your door. All without lifting a finger. Maybe we’ve come full-circle to Queen Margherita getting her servant to write her request after all.

Why not make like Queen Margherita and order yourself three pizzas to see which you like the best? Who knows, maybe if you customise the toppings and make something new, someone will name a pizza after you too!

Browse Papa Johns’ menu of mouthwatering pizzas and sides today or, if you’re keen to find out more about your favourites, keep up with our blog.