It was never free, it was subsidized by pick up or eat in.
Now that prices are high and margins are tightened (blame practical downstream or “greedy corporations” or just MBAs, I don’t care) that subsidy isn’t bearable. So you pay for delivery.
Now that prices are high and margins are tightened (blame practical downstream or “greedy corporations” or just MBAs, I don’t care) that subsidy isn’t bearable. So you pay for delivery.
The couple of dollars extra for delivery fees started maybe in the mid/late 2000s where I am (midwest USA).
Or not. Sometimes extra costs simply come out of the bottom line because it is better to make a delivery sale with lower margin, than lose the sale entirely.
The idea that it must be subsidized only makes sense if every pizza place has no profit.