US pizza restaurant spending

From 2010 to 2023, self-published books and pizza restaurant spending grew together at an r of 0.9747, a finding that feels deeply, spiritually correct. The working theory is that every self-published author celebrates completing their manuscript with a pizza, creating a closed economic loop of carbohydrates and creative ambition. US pizza restaurant spending grew from roughly $44 billion to over $50 billion, while self-published titles grew from under a million to several million. The pizza industry owes the creative class a formal acknowledgment.

Both are resilient discretionary spending categories driven by the same consumer trends: the experience economy, the rise of delivery platforms, and expanding middle-class leisure spending. Pizza restaurant spending grew steadily through the 2010s, supercharged by third-party delivery apps like DoorDash and Uber Eats that expanded the category's reach. Self-publishing growth was similarly platform-driven, with Amazon KDP lowering production and distribution costs to near zero. Both industries benefited from the gig economy normalizing both the consumption and production of things from home.

The home has become simultaneously the factory, the restaurant, and the publishing house. Two industries that look unrelated turn out to be measuring the same phenomenon: the domestication of ambition.