Pizza has ranked as the most popular American food in recent years, as 21% of U.S. adults chose a slice of pie ahead of steak and hamburgers, in a Harris Poll survey of over 2,000 respondents in 2023.
In the poll, 16% preferred steak, while 13% like hamburgers best, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
For those pizza lovers looking for a quick meal at home, the most popular frozen pizza brand on the market, according to June 2025 Instacart survey, is Red Baron, followed by DiGiorno and Totino’s, Food & Wine reported.
A classic frozen pizza brand commonly found on supermarket freezer shelves in the 1970s and 80s, Celeste did not make the Top 10 list of that survey, and unfortunately, it’s now being discontinued by its manufacturer.
Conagra ends Celeste Pizza product
Conagra, which purchased the Celeste brand in 2018 when it acquired Pinnacle Foods, revealed in its fiscal 2027 first quarter earnings call that it will discontinue the iconic product.
CEO John Brase said in the earnings call that Conagra launched a comprehensive review of its stock-keeping unit portfolio that resulted in the end of Celeste Pizza.
“We’re making bold decisions now to focus our resources on our strongest opportunities and reduce complexity across manufacturing and procurement,” Brase said. “One early example is our decision to exit the Celeste frozen pizza business.”
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Celeste discontinuation supports Conagra’s growth potential
Discontinuing the Celeste brand “allows us to redirect our resources toward brands and categories where we have greater scale and stronger growth potential. Importantly, we expect the decision to be accretive to margins going forward,” Brase said.
Celeste Pizza has already disappeared from this writer’s local Walmart frozen foods section, and the product was listed as “out of stock” on Walmart’s e-commerce site on Oct. 3.
Plenty of varieties of the Top 3 frozen pizza brands — Red Baron, DiGiorno, and Totino’s — were available online or in stores.
Celeste Pizza was created by “Mama” Celeste Lizzio and her husband Anthony when they opened their first restaurant in Chicago in 1937. They closed the restaurant in 1962 and began selling their pizzas to other restaurants, according to reference.org.
Quaker Oats started retail brand
Quaker Oats Company bought the product in 1969 with “Mama” Celeste becoming the face of the product on its pizza boxes and the spokesperson in television commercials in the 1970s and 80s.
“Mama” Celeste, who passed away in 1988 at age 80, was known for using her catchword “abbondanza” as the brand’s slogan in its advertising.
Quaker Oats sold the Celeste Pizza brand to Aurora Foods in May 1996. Aurora merged with Pinnacle Foods in March 2004 as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring.
Pinnacle Foods sold its assets, including the Celeste Pizza brand, to Conagra in October 2018.
Celeste Pizza history:
- Quaker Oats Company buys Celeste Pizza product in 1969.
- “Mama” Celeste passes away in 1988.
- Aurora Foods buys Celeste Pizza in 1996.
- Pinnacle Foods buys Aurora Foods and Celeste Pizza in 2004.
- Conagra buys Pinnacle Foods and Celeste Pizza in 2018.
- Celeste Pizza discontinued September 2026.
- Sources: Reference.org, Earnings call
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