Glaswegians had lots to celebrate in January 2019 when it was announced that a new pizza place had opened in the city. The new pizza restaurant is called 800 Degrees and is based in Giffnock, which is on the south side of the city.
The eatery is all about authentic pizza that sticks to the history of the doughy dish while offering an incredible taste. This means that the pizza is made in a wood-fired oven, which is how it is traditionally made. In fact, even the name of the pizzeria is a reference to the classic pizza-making method. Pizza, when being made in a wood-fired oven, should be cooked at 800 degrees in order to give it a crispy base that is cooked evenly.
800 Degrees officially opened its doors on January 27 and has since been offering a mouth-watering menu of eight different pizzas to choose from. Each pizza is priced between £7-9 – there are no different sizes available, but prices do differ on the toppings available. One of the priciest pizza is the tomato sugo with parma ham, fresh rocket, fior di latte (a soft cheese that’s similar to mozzarella), as well as shavings of parmesan, and extra virgin olive oil. Or, there’s the spicy nduja paste pizza, with Italian sausage, red onion, fior di latte, and fresh basil. The most popular pizza type is pepperoni and this Italian sausage combo is a more upmarket version of that, it seems.
And, the restaurant lets you pair your pizza with a refreshing drink. Beverages include cans of San Pellegrino (sparkling water), bottles or cans of other soft drinks, as well as bottles of water. Hot drinks include lattes, americanos, and espressos, meaning that you can pair your slices of authentic Neapolitan pizza with an authentic Italian coffee as well. The restaurant hasn’t been open for long but, according to recommendations and reviews on social media, 800 Degrees is already proving to be a hit with local fans of crispy and delicious pizzas!
Why This New Glasgow Pizza Place is Offering Free Pizza
In the few short weeks that 800 Degrees has been open, the restaurant has been making waves in the local community. This is largely thanks to the company’s efforts on social media. As of the time of writing, the pizzeria has 403 likes on its Facebook page and it has another 676 followers on its Instagram page. Many of its fans and followers seem to be young people, which is to be expected, as the Instagram user base is predominantly people between the ages of 18 and 35, with 64% of Instagram users falling into this demographic.
On both of its social media platforms, it runs competitions to win free pizza. Or to get pizza discounts, including an offer to get a 7-inch topping with one pizza for just £2 between Monday to Friday, 12PM-4PM. This promotional post has 49 likes, which is an engagement level of just over 7%. It is running an even better competition on its Facebook page. Followers could win a free Valentine’s day meal; tag pizza lovers for a chance to win two free pizzas on Valentine’s day. This post has 42 comments, 60 likes and 57 shares, which means that thousands will have seen the post.
It may seem unusual to give away free pizza as a promotional strategy and you may wonder how it could make the restaurant money. But, according to leading business publications, giving away freebies is one of the easiest and most budget-friendly ways to promote your business, making it ideal for a new company like 800 Degrees in Glasgow. We’ve seen the free offers strategy used in a range of online businesses, including restaurants like 800 Degrees and even online gaming. Free online bingo offers give players bonuses and let them play bingo without depositing any money. They even offer cash prizes to new bingo players. This may seem counterintuitive but it is done in the hopes that the player will want to play more bingo in the long-term. Other businesses offering freebies include free chicken wings from KFC, free SIM cards from O2, free snacks, and even free cosmetics from Boots. The idea is that, once you see first-hand why a product or service is great, you’ll become a loyal user. If that works for other businesses, then it could work for 800 Degrees too.
Does 800 Degrees Have Staying Power?
800 Degrees has a lot of things going for it. Not only is its food great (according to reviews on social media), but it is a very social media savvy company and knows exactly how to reach its customers. It is also based in Scotland’s pizza capital, with a recent survey revealing that Glaswegians love pizza more than almost anyone else in the UK! 32% of people in the city eat pizza at least once a week. 51% of those surveyed also said that quality is more important than price – considering that 800 Degrees seems to have both, it’s off to a good start.
But, with that said, there are lots of Glasgow-based pizzerias, including Paesano, Pizza East, and Pizza Punks. This means that there is a huge amount of competition when it comes to giving Glasgow’s pizza lovers exactly what they want. 800 Degrees does seem to be making a mark right now, but can it continue that growth and prove to be a worthy rival to the existing pizzerias, which have been in the city for quite some time?
At the moment, it’s tough to answer that question. The food and hospitality industries are famously difficult to break into and it requires time, patience, and real love and dedication to food to find success in the sector. But, from what’s been shown, 800 Degrees has the ability to do it; all that’s left to do now is wait and see.