Pizza Calculator – Review

Our rating:

By: Pizza Calculator

Version #: 1.0

Date Released: 2009-01-03

Developer: Tom Westerlund

Price: 1.99

User Rating:

Loading...

Download App

When you first hear of an application called the Pizza Calculator the mind reels at the possibilities. Is it an application for tracking the number of pizzas eaten in a lifetime?  Is it a simple, arithmetic calculator that happens to look like a pizza?  The answer to both of these questions is “no”, but what it actually does is something similarly amusing and quite possibly useful.

From Jonah Burlingame, one of the developers:  “It was conceived about 10 years ago as a means to ease the complicated process of finding the lowest common denominator of toppings when ordering pizza for a large group. But when mentioning it to my friends and co workers they all laughed at me. Then one day a few months back an old friend contacted me to say he’s thought about the idea many times over the years and thought the time was right to bring it to life due to the iPhone application platform. He figured out the algorithm and the concept became reality.”

I am a pizza lover, so when I first read of this application I felt that I had to get a copy.  I did, and while I found the application to be simple, useful and kind of cool, there is definitely room for improvement in the execution of the concept.

For up to 50 people, the application will accept the input of their choice of toppings and calculate the quantity of pizza pies and the toppings for each required to feed everyone their choice.  Plus, it will determine the remaining slices for everyone to take home as leftovers.

The steps are simple:  from the home screen, you tap “Start Selecting Items”.  From there, you slide the choices of toppings for Person 1 from “off” to “on”.  When finished, you tap the “Add Person” button on the top right to select the toppings for the next pizza patron.  When you have finished repeating this process for all the people involved, you tap the “Calculate!” button and then call the pizza parlor to order the right types of pizza in the correct quantities.

Sadly, I do feel the application could use some improvements.  For example, I’ve often found that certain co-workers only wanted a single slice.  According to the application, the participant must at least order two slices.  Also, the application assumes that everyone will eat the same quantity of pizza, and I know from personal experience that simply isn’t the case.

I also think the Pizza Calculator would be better served if the user could customize the pizza toppings.  I know of a few pizzerias in New York City that offer toppings not seen elsewhere, like shrimp and/or barbecue sauce (that doesn’t sound so bad together, actually).

At $1.99, the Pizza Calculator is quite affordable.  In an office where pizza is ordered with some degree of regularity, it could prove an invaluable tool.  Just make sure you save me a slice.
What I like:  Unique concept.  Cute application.  Good presentation.

What could use improvement:  Doesn’t account for individual slices.  The user should be allowed to input customized toppings.
3.5 of 5 stars