Pizza Express

Pizza Express is the name of a very prevalent restaurant chain in the UK. Despite what the name might imply, it's a somewhat classy sit-down restaurant with slightly dimmed lighting. It is certainly a lot classier than Pizza Hut, with no buffets or stuffed crust in sight. They serve a wide-range of Italian-style thin-crust pizzas, as well as a limited number of salads and pastas. In addition to being located on approximately every other street corner in the country, a limited number of their pizzas are available at the grocery store for home consumption (as is their 'dough balls' appetizer and for some reason, their salad dressing).

A pizza from Pizza Express will in general terms cost you £7-£9, the dough balls around £3 and a bottle of wine anywhere from around £12. In total, a meal for two will set you back around £35. While the food is always quite yummy and the atmosphere of most outlets is quite pleasant, I can't help but feel that the whole enterprise isn't quite worth £35. And clearly I'm not the only person who thinks so.

Back in the day, say mid-2008, it was a newsworthy event when Pizza Express printed two-for-one coupons in one of the Sunday papers, and I'm pretty sure restaurant patronage increased dramatically after these coupons were issued.

As times have gotten, let's say, 'worse', a lot of restaurants have suffered and some have had to close down. But I'm pretty sure Pizza Express is doing as well, if not better, than ever. You see, over the past few months these two-for-one coupons have become so prevalent that it almost silly to dine anywhere else. It really started with a streak of counterfeit online coupons that everyone latched on to readily, and some stores decided it was easier to accept them. These fake coupons seem to have done wonders for business, and now regular legitimate coupons are available on pizzaexpressoffers.com. We have also recently discovered that coupons are printed on the backs of movie tickets at our local theater. And for that matter, on the back of your card receipts from the movie theater. Basically, you go see one movie and can end up with 6 or so Pizza Express coupons - half two-for-one and the others for £10 off a £30 bill. In addition, they have recently started a two-for-one Wednesday promotion in conjunction with two-for-one Wednesday movie offers. As a result, the Pizza Express at Fulham Broadway has had massive lines out the door the last few weeks.

So it seems Pizza Express is currently winning in the battle of the fittest. While it will indeed be a sad day when these coupons start to dry up, it will almost certainly be a sign that the economy is improving, and so I like to think I'll be able to take it in stride.