For the pizza lobby, even better times may lie ahead. Fresh and frozen, the pizza industry tends to support Republicans. In the last two election cycles, Republican federal candidates received about $1.3 million from the industry, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics of major companies and those listing “pizza” in their name. Democrats received just $157,000. (The biggest beneficiary was 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, despite published reports that he pulls the cheese off his pizza.)
Now, with the Republicans running Congress, there’s talk of reversing some nutrition policies that conservatives consider pet projects of the first lady and examples of government overreach. The School Nutrition Association has already asked Congress to roll back some of the more onerous nutrition rules in the coming year. The frozen-pizza people, meanwhile, haven’t yet taken a position.
For pizzeria owners, it may be too much to ask for another “Summer of Cheese” anytime soon, but Liddle says she hopes Congress will consider tweaking the menu-labeling law to make it more favorable to pizza sellers. As for the American Pizza Community, she envisions a formidable, and enduring, champion for pizza, one capable of changing the food’s fortunes in Washington and elsewhere. In her wildest pizza fantasies, the APC could even join forces with the “root of all evil.”
“We are in the beginning stages. We are trying to build our way up and get these messages out,” Liddle says. “In trying to figure out who we are when we grow up, one of the questions is: Do we include frozen pizza in the group?”
As of now, they’re going to continue working separately, but their efforts — and lobbying dollars — reinforce the fundamental message, one with which even a divided Congress might agree: Pizza has become every bit as American as apple pie, and it’s closing in on mom. “Pizza is like the greatest food in America,” says Joe Clayton, executive director of the National Frozen Pizza Institute, who’s understandably biased. “It is part of America, and it has been for a long time.”