Growing up, I loved Pizza Hut. One of my favorite traditions was to order a large, cheese lovers pizza on Friday evening at the end of the week. From my perspective, the weekend didn’t truly start until I bit into that big slice of cheesy goodness.
On special occasions, we’d actually go to Pizza Hut. There was a classic, red cup and arcade equipped, Pizza Hut within walking distance of my parents’ home. And eating there was always fun. Between the arcade games, the food, and the personal pizza’s you’d get for completing your summer reading list in school, it was a great experience.
But that experience gradually disappeared. Starting in the mid-20100s, Pizza Hut began phasing out its sit-down restaurants and focused more on delivery. Many cite this effort as the start of a significant decline for Pizza Hut. Now, there were many other factors behind this decline. This YouTube video from the channel, Company Man, breaks it down nicely.
Regardless of how or why Pizza Hut declined, that experience I mentioned earlier still resonates strongly for people of a particular age. There’s a genuine nostalgia for the Pizza Hut people remembered from their youth. So, it shouldn’t be too surprising that, in an effort to regain some market share, some franchisees are looking to recreate that experience. While I can certainly appreciate the sentiment, I am also confident in making this statement.
This will NOT help Pizza Hut succeed in the long run.
Let me be clear. I’m not saying that as some expert in business, marketing, or economics. I’m saying that as someone who has eaten pizza regularly on a weekly basis for his entire life. I’ve eaten it in nearly every form, style, and topping you can imagine. I’ve eaten at every chain. I’ve had pizza from this hole-in-the-wall restaurant in New York City that was no bigger than my college dorm room.
What I’m trying to get across here is I know pizza. As a consumer, I am in the same league as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. So, my instincts when it comes to pizza are honed, refined, and time-tested. And when it comes to Pizza Hut, the problem isn’t the lack of restaurants in the mold of its classic 90s aesthetic. The problem is the pizza itself and the way the company runs its operation.
In terms of operation, Pizza Hut is infamous for its inefficiency. Compared to its competitors, it’s bringing up the rear in terms of worker and customer satisfaction. Usually, when Pizza Hut makes the news, it’s to announce more store closures. At the same time, Dominoes finds ways to make headlines for far better reasons.
As for the pizza itself, this is where I have to get personal. The last time I ordered Pizza Hut was in 2016. And the only reason I did so was because my Dominoes order got messed up. At that point, I hadn’t had Pizza Hut in a long time. I hadn’t even been in one of their restaurants since 2005. I just hoped that the pizza was as good as I remembered.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.
That cheese lovers pizza I loved as a kid was long gone. What I got instead tasted fine, but it was so bland. The cheese, the sauce, and the crust had no consistency. Even the greasiness, which used to be a fun byproduct of every slice, wasn’t there. What I got felt on par with a frozen pizza I could get at Walmart for half the price. I don’t even think I finished it, which is a big deal for me. If I don’t finish a pizza over the course of three days, that’s as clear a sign as any that it wasn’t good.
Since that fateful evening, I haven’t had anything from Pizza Hut. As for Dominoes, they actually made up for the order they screwed up. The manager at the Dominoes I go to, who I was on a first-name basis with, gave me a free pizza as compensation. I almost refused. But there’s just no way around it. Dominoes pizza is better. That didn’t used to be the case. But as I’m writing this, their pizza is just better than Pizza Hut, Papa Johns, and Little Caesars.
I’ll even take a moment to proclaim my love for Domino’s stuffed crust pizza. I don’t have those often. But when I do, it’s a real treat.
Despite nearly a decade of consistent pizza consumption, I’ve never felt at all inclined to eat from Pizza Hut. Even if they opened up an old school Pizza Hut restaurant a block from my home, I don’t know if I’d go. I admit I’d appreciate the vibes. I’d even play some of the old arcade games if they were there. But if the food is the same quality as it was back in 2016, then the nostalgia will wear off quickly. And I’d go back to ordering Dominoes.
In addition, there’s one final factor to consider with Pizza Hut’s nostalgia-driven approach. And I think it might end up being the most decisive. It boils down to one simple issue that transcends the pizza industry. People, in general, don’t have as much money to spend anymore.
Forget the politics for a moment. The numbers don’t lie. More and more people have fewer and fewer resources to spend. You might not consider going out to eat at Pizza Hut for dinner a luxury. But for people struggling to keep up with rising costs, it’s quickly becoming a luxury. If the option is getting in a car and wasting increasingly expensive gas on dining out or just ordering pizza online, then most people aren’t going to bother with the former. It’s just basic economics.
I can still appreciate the motivation and spirit behind this effort with Pizza Hut. A part of me will always cherish the memories I had of Pizza Hut as a kid. But a bigger part of me realizes I have to live in the here and now. As it stands, Pizza Hut offers a sub-par product from a brand that keeps faltering every step of the way. I won’t say Pizza Hut is beyond saving at this point. But if the company thinks nostalgia alone will save it, then they’re dead wrong.
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