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Pizza Hut is a fast-food restaurant chain and international franchise based in Dallas, Texas, 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 countriesOur Story, PizzaHut.com.
History
Pizza Hut was founded 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. It was bought 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.
Oddly, although it operates all around the world, Pizza Hut has never entered the Italian market.
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.
Australian format
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 minimal seating, although there are still some restaurants available for dining in. 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 pies, and barbecue sauce is available as an alternative to tomato sauce as a topping base. Also, in the United States most Pizza Hut Stores will offer the option of changing sauces on Pizzas at no extra cost (BBQ, Pan, Sweet, ect.). (However most stores will be very reluctant and may even refuse to put "Thin Sauce" on any other crust due to cooking issues.)Products
The most commonly sold food at Pizza Hut restaurants is the "Pan Pizza", which usually comes in four different sizes (including Medium, Large, and the "Personal Pan Pizza", which is a 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), Hand-Tossed (closer to traditional pizzeria crusts), Thin 'N Crispy (Pizza Hut's original crust), 4forALL (four small pizzas), More4ALL (one round pizza, divided into four triangular parts, each part having 4 slices), Dippin' Strips (rectangular slices that you can dip in sauces), The Edge (lots of toppings and no crust), the Cheesy Twisted Crust (a breadstick as the crust with sauce and two cheeses), and the Cheesy Bites Pizza (seasoned stuffed crust bites surround the pizza). Currently, the 4forAll, More4All, Side Sampler, and Cheesy Bite promotions are all no longer in wide effect.
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.
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 flavours. You may choose between, bone-in, bone-out (both breaded) or 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.
UK & Ireland
The menu has recently been simplified, there are now only four 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). This pizza is no longer available.
- Stuffed Crust (A large crust stuffed with cheese).
- Dipper (A large pizza cut into 16 chunky fingers served with 3 types of dip).
India
Pizza has become a very popular food in India. Pizza Hut has opened outlets in most of the cities including New Delhi, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Ludhiana, Kolkata, Pune,Hyderabad, Bangalore, Gurgaon, Jalandhar, Chennai, Coimbatore, Baroda, Surat, etc. Pizza Hut advertising uses the catch line "Good times, Great Pizza". Menus are also catered for Indian taste. Many pizzas are spicy offerings such as "Chicken Tikka" and "Tandoori Paneer" varieties of pizza. The pizzas of both western and Indian recipes are offered. Now open in Indore at Treasure Island.Pakistan
In Pakistan, Pizza Hut is popular. Due to increasing demands, Pizza Hut outlets are situated in all the big cities like Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Gujranwala, Peshawar and Islamabad and many more on the way. It offers a wide variety of pizzas, combining western and eastern recipes to suit every taste.Bangladesh
Soon after its launch, Pizza Hut gained a lot of popularity overnight in Dhaka. Within a year of the success in Dhaka, Pizza Hut opened their 2nd outlet in the country in Chittagong. The Dhaka outlet which has seating capacity of 220 persons, is the largest outlet of Pizza Hut in the subcontinent.Philippines
Pizza Hut Philippines has become very popular in the Philippines. Though it is only available mainly in Metro Manila, 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.There are two initial catch lines 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, almost all the provincial capitals and large cities such as Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Wuhan and Changsha.Advertising
Pizza Hut does not have an official international mascot, but at one time, there were commercials in the United States that featured Pizza Head (1993 to 1997). Pizza Head was a slice of pizza with toppings rearranged to make a face. These advertising campaigns from San Francisco's Goodby Silverstein & Partners were directed by Walter Williams in a style similar to his "The Mr. Bill Show", an early series of Saturday Night Live skits. 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 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.
Slogans
- "Makin' it great!"
- "You'll love the stuff we're made of."
- "The best pizzas under one roof."
- "Gather 'round the good stuff."
- "Stop and Smell the Pizza."
- "You do the Math, We'll do the Pizza."
- "Eat. Laugh. Share." (Pizza Hut Canada)
- "Go Deep"
- "Hit the Hut"
- "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.)
- "Three-Eight-Nine-Two-Double-One-Double One(3892-11-11)...Pizza Hut Delivery" (Australia. The phone number is for Brisbane 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.)
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 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 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 [http://www.xdelivery.org. 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 Manhattan, Kansas
- 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 is 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 The Secret of the Ooze.
- When The Land Before Time was first released on VHS, the Pizza Hut commercial was shown before the film.
- In the movie Toy Story, they make a spoof of Pizza Hut with a restaurant called Pizza Planet
See also
References
External links
- http://www.pizzahut.com - Official Website
- http://www.pizzahut.com/about/international/ - Directory of international websites
- http://www.cmel.faa.gov/HEALTH/Nutritn/pizza.htm - Nutrition profile of slice of Pizza Hut pizza
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5G7IdhjBkrk - Pizza Hut commercial (with the first four minutes of The Land Before Time) at YouTube
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