pizza hut

Pizza Hut is a restaurant chain and international franchise based in Dallas, Texas, USA, specializing in American-style pizza along with side dishes like garlic bread. Pizza Hut is the world's largest pizza restaurant chain with nearly 34,000 restaurants, delivery-carry out units, and kiosks in 100 countries.^[1]

History

Pizza Hut was founded in 1958 by Dan and Frank Carney in Wichita, Kansas. The company gained national recognition in its first-ever advertising campaign, called "Putt Putt to Pizza Hut," which first debuted on American television in 1965. That first TV commercial was directed by Randall Parker. The company was purchased by PepsiCo, Inc. in 1977.

Pizza Hut was "spun-off" from Pepsi Cola, in October 1997, to Tricon Global Restaurants, which has been renamed Yum! Brands, Inc.. The most distinct symbol of Pizza Hut is the trademarked design of the restaurant's roof, which is a red painted Mansard roof; It is incorporated into the Pizza Hut logo. The current design was adopted in 1969, with a makeover in 1999.

Pizza Hut has recently entered the Italian restaurant market through its chain of Pizza Hut Italian Bistro restaurants[1]. These restaurants have expanded their traditional pizza menu to include an assortment of pastas, gourmet pizzas such as Classic Margherita, and also toasted sandwiches. This brand of Pizza Hut store has only developed recently and has been growing in number accross the country. Along with the Pizza Hut Italian Bistro is another new chain called Pizza Hut Wing Street[2], which has a menu consisting primarily of buffalo wings.

Formats

Smaller Pizza Hut Express outlets, offering a reduced version of the menu, appear in malls, airport terminals, department stores, hotels, cafeterias, gas stations, movie theatres and other places. Often at these locations, cheese, pepperoni, and Supreme Personal Pan Pizzas are premade for customers to pick up. Some of these are combined with express versions of KFC and Taco Bell.

Pizza Hut is currently opening new stores, and remodeling existing ones, into Pizza Hut Italian Bistro. The Pizza Hut Italian Bistro is a casual dining restaurant whose menu adds 25 additional items to the classic Pizza Hut menu.

Pizza Hut is also testing the Pizza Hut WingStreet format, which offers the pizza menu along with a variety of chicken wings.

Products

The most commonly sold food at Pizza Hut restaurants is the "Pan Pizza", which usually comes in four different sizes (including Small, Medium, Large, and the "Personal Pan Pizza", which is an individual serving sized pizza), in a variety of toppings (as well as "specialty" styles, including the Lover's Line and Supreme). Compared to most other commercially available pies, the Pan Pizza has a thick crust - soft on the inside, crunchy on the outside.

In addition to the Pan Pizza, Pizza Hut also sells Stuffed Crust (a hand tossed crust, with the outermost edge wrapped around a coil of string cheese (ficelo)), Hand-Tossed (closer to traditional pizzeria crusts), Thin 'N Crispy (Pizza Hut's original crust), 4forALL (four small pizzas), and The Edge (lots of toppings and no crust). The next planned special pizza is the Sicilian Lasagna Pizza.

Other food items sold at many Pizza Huts include calzones ("P'zones"), buffalo wings (some locations are also co-branded "WingStreet" and offer more flavors), pasta, breadsticks, cinnamon sticks, mozzarella sticks, and jalapeño poppers. In the U.S., Canada, and most other countries, Pepsi and other soft drinks made by PepsiCo are served. Most full-sized Pizza Hut restaurants also have a salad bar and/or a lunch buffet.

Pizza Hut has experimented with new products frequently. Less successful ones have been discontinued. These include Chicago Dish Pizza, Sicilian Pizza, and "Bigfoot", a large rectangular pie sold in the mid-1990's, which was promoted with commercials touting its size. However the Sicilian Pizza will be making a 2006 comeback as Pizza Hut restaurants are receiving shipments of Sicilian dough for their next new product, the Sicilian Lasagna Pizza.

WingStreet

Main article: WingStreet

WingStreet is an alternate format restaurant, owned and operated by Pizza Hut. They are commonly attached to, or incorporated into, Pizza Huts. WingStreet sells chicken wings, which are available in several flavors including Cajun, Mild, Honey the new Traditional wing, which is a "naked" wing with no breading. The side items available are: WingStreet Taters (tater tots shaped like W's), fried mozzarella cheese sticks, and mini apple pies.

International success

Pizza Hut resturaunts are located throughout the world. Based on their location and the culture of the people, Pizza Hut often offfers different menu choices in these countries than in North America.

UK & Ireland

The menu has recently been simplified, there are now only five types of bases available, these are:

• Pan Pizza (The most popular deep pan cooked style).
• The Italian (A more traditional style pizza).
• The Edge (A really thin base with no crusts, cut into 16 squares, rather than traditional slices).
• Stuffed Crust (A large crust stuffed with cheese).
• Dippin' Strips (A large pizza cut into 16 chunky fingers served with 3 sauces for dippin').

In addition the menu offers a buffet; all you can eat "under terms and conditions", for pizza only or for Pizza, Pasta and Salad. Recently Pizza Hut has extended its buffet to cover all 7 days, except for selected stores.

Australia

In Australia, Pizza Hut has followed a different model—after an initial attempt to introduce Pizza Hut restaurants as in the United States and the United Kingdom, Australian Pizza Huts now generally operate as take out and delivery operations with all orders processed by two major call centers located in Brisbane and Sydney. Originally, Australian Pizza Huts were comparable to their American counterparts, but were scaled back due to increased competition from other fast food chains. Australian Pizza Hut restaurants currently compete with Domino's, Pizza Haven, Eagle Boys and various other pizza stores. The situation has been similar for the brand in neighbouring country New Zealand. In Australia, soya oil is used instead of vegetable oil for all pizzas, and barbecue sauce is available as an alternative to tomato sauce as a topping base.

Malaysia

Pizza Hut has more than a hundred outlets in Malaysia. Malaysian restaurants feature a new pizza topping every other month ^{citation needed]}. Some flavors are uniquely Malaysian like the satay pizza and several other local flavors.

Bangladesh

Pizza Hut is one of the most popular fast food outlets in Bangladesh. Currently there are two outlets, one in Dhaka which is situated at Gulshan-1 and the other at Chittagong, all outlets are halal. Another 2/3 outlets are set to start operations soon.

Saudi Arabia

Pizza Hut is very popular in Saudi Arabia. The largest pizza hut restaurant is located in Jeddah on Tahliya street. This Restaurant consists of 2 floors, including a basement equipped with modern video games and a play area for childeren. Suprisingly, Pizza Hut in Saudi Arabia does not offer local toppings as offered in other parts of the world. Garlic bread is also liked by the locals.

Pakistan

In Pakistan, Pizza Hut is popular, serving halal food. Due to increasing demands, Pizza Hut's outlets are in many of the country's major cities including Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Gujranwala, Peshawar, Hyderabad and Islamabad. These outlets offer a wide variety of pizza, combining western and eastern recipes to suit every taste. Pizza Hut Pakistan also offers "All you can eat and drink" deal in holy month of Ramadan.

Philippines

Pizza Hut has become very popular in the Philippines, especially among the youth. Though it is only available mainly in the Mall of Asia in Manila and in Cebu City, it is also found in gas stations outbound and inbound Manila, with some in Laguna and Bulacan. There is also a small number of them in big provincial cities.

India

Pizza hut comes to India in 1996 with a dine in restaurant Banglore that has special vegetarian pizzas. In additional to traditional Italian toppings , it incorporates Indian favorites such as Chicken tikkas, Lamb korma etc. In its list of innovative toppings. Along with pizzas, the menu features appetizers like garlic bread and soups, fresh salads, oven bakes pastas and choice of ice-cream sundaes.

Now Pizza hut is available in many major cities of india like, New delhi, Mumbai, Kolkatta, Chennai, Hyderabad and other cities. Pizzahut has it's own significance in indian market, people in urban areas rush for Pizza hut.

Israel

In Israel, Pizza Hut is kosher in order to accommodate Jewish law. Everywhere else in the world, Pizza Hut pizza is not certified as Kosher.

There are two popular slogans which are:

• Pinaka-pizza
• Great pizza under one roof

Mainland China

The first Pizza Hut in Mainland China was the restaurant at Dongzhimen in Beijing, opened on December 1, 1990. As of 2005 there are nearly 200 restaurants in more than 50 cities,such as almost all the provincial capitals and large cities such as Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Wuhan and Changsha. Also, in China, Pizza Hut is marketed as a Dine-In Restaurant, serving sangria and escargot besides the traditional pizza (including traditional toppings and others like tuna), unlike in the United States, where it is more of a Pizza Delivery service, which sometimes has a dine in service.

Advertising

Pizza Hut does not have an official international mascot, but at one time, there were commercials in the United States called 'The Pizza Head Show.' These commercials ran from 1993-1996 and featured a slice of pizza with a face made out of toppings called 'Pizza Head.' In Australia during the Mid to late 1990s, the advertising mascot was a delivery boy named Dougie, with boyish good looks who, upon delivering pizza to his father, would hear the catchphrase "Here's a tip, be good to your mother".

In 1997, former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev starred in a Pizza Hut commercial to raise money for the Perestroyka Archives. In recent years, Pizza Hut has had various celebrity spokespeople, including Jessica Simpson, the Muppets and Damon Hill. Recent commercials have Queen Latifah providing the voiceover.

The 1990 NES game Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game, came with a coupon for a free pizza. The game was filled with Pizza Hut advertising and pizza that would refill your life.

Current advertisements on television feature voiceovers by an uncredited Queen Latifah.

In Australia, 2006 saw the introduction of a mascot in Pizza Hut's advertising - "Pizza Mutt", a small dog who delivers pizzas.

Slogans

• "Pizza Hut, oh yeah and nothin' but!"
• "Makin' it great!"
• "You'll love the stuff we're made of."
• "The best pizzas under one roof."
• "Gather 'round the good stuff."
• "Go for the good stuff"
• "Stop and Smell the Pizza."
• "You do the Math, We'll do the Pizza."
• "Lets hit the Hut!"
• "Eat. Laugh. Share." (Pizza Hut Canada)
• "Go Deep"
• "Who called the hut?"
• "Call Five-Two-Four-Four-Four-Four-Four(524-4444), Pizza Hut Delivery's really great" (United States. The general phone number one can dial to be connected to the nearest Pizza Hut location. 488-8888 is used in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area.)
• "Nine-Four-Eight-One Double-One-Double-One(9481-1111)...Pizza Hut Delivery" (Australia. The phone number is for Sydney delivery orders; the words were sung to the tune of the William Tell Overture and slightly modified for each city.
• One-Three-Double one-Double Six, is more widely used. ); "Nine-One-One-One-One-One-One (911-1111)... Pizza Hut Delivery" (Philippines. The words were also sung in the tune of William Tell Overture)
• "Great pizzas, great times"
• "Grab a slice of the action"
• "In good company"
• "Tak jak lubisz" (Poland)
  • Your Kama'aina pizza hut! (Hawaii)

Sponsorship

In 2005 Pizza Hut sponsored The Simpsons on the British TV station Channel 4. The adverts often contained the catchphrase "Who's called the Hut?" At the same time, but with a deal that started years earlier, Domino's Pizza sponsored The Simpsons on British TV station Sky One.

Pizza Hut has also been a longtime sponsor of the popular "Book It!" program, which encourages reading in American schools. Those who read often are rewarded with Pizza Hut coupons offering free or discounted menu items. In the late 1980s, Pizza Hut would throw a free pizza party for your class if all the kids meet their reading goals.

In the early 1990s, as part of PepsiCo's sponsorship of The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Pizza Hut was included in the acknowledgement, along with Taco Bell and KFC, which PepsiCo owned at the time.

Unions

In more recent history, Pizza Hut's delivery drivers have been organizing into unions [3]. These drivers cite conditions as 'deplorable' with the average US driver getting paid $0.50(USD) per delivery (while Pizza Hut, on average, charges the customer $1.50(USD) per delivery), compared to a national average elsewhere of $1.25 per delivery [4]. Such unions include SEIU and APDD. In addition to wages, many Pizza Hut drivers have safety and job security concerns.

In New Zealand, Pizza Hut (managed by Restaurant Brands) along with other fast food companies is facing union pressure from Supersizemypay.com and the Unite Union to improve wage conditions and give workers secure hours.

Trivia

• The oldest running Pizza Hut is in Wichita, Kansas on the Wichita State Campus
• Pizza Hut delivered the first pizzas to the International Space Station in 2001.
• The company uses more than 700 million pounds of pepperoni and more than 525 million pounds of tomatoes each year. If the pepperoni slices were laid side by side, they would stretch twice around the Earth and all the way to the moon.
• More than 300 million pounds of cheese are used by the company each year, making it the world's largest user.
• The true reason it was called 'Pizza Hut' is because when Dan and Frank Carney got the sign to put in front of their first restaurant in 'Wichita, Kansas' there was only enough room for a three letter word after Pizza. The original location can still be seen on the campus of Wichita State University.
• In the film Spaceballs, one of the villains is named Pizza the Hutt
• In the 1989 film Back to the Future Part II, the McFly family is having a Pizza Hut dehydrated pizza for dinner after being fully hydrated by a Black & Decker Hydrator. One side of the pizza has pepperoni, the other side has green peppers.
• A Pizza Hut pizza can be seen in the 1991 movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze.
• When The Land Before Time and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were first released on VHS, the Pizza Hut commercials were shown before the films.
• In the television sitcom Friends, the character Ross Geller had his first bachelor party in the basement of a Pizza Hut.
• In the film Clerks II, the main characters, en route to work at the fictitious Moobys fast food restaurant, pass a number of actual fast food franchise restaurants dotting Route 35 in Middletown Township, New Jersey; one happens to be a Pizza Hut.
• In Germany, Pizza Hut is mistakenly referred to as "Pizza Hat" by many (German pronunciation "Pizza Hoot"). This is because Germans mistake the English word hut for the German word Hut(hat), and because the red roof in the logo looks like a hat.
• The highest-grossing Pizza Hut is located in Moscow, grossing an average of $6500 a day.
• There is a Pizza Hut across the road from the Great Pyramids of Giza.

See also

• Domino's Pizza
• Papa John's Pizza
• List of restaurant chains

References

1. ^ Our Story, PizzaHut.com

External links

• Official Website
• UK Pizza Hut Website
• Pizza Hut Bangladesh Website
• Pizza Hut Malaysia
• Directory of international websites
• Nutrition profile of slice of Pizza Hut pizza

in:Pizza Hut