Pizza Hut

Pizza Hut

File:PizzaHut.png
Company type	Subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc.
Industry	Food Wholesale
Founded	Wichita, Kansas, USA (1958)
Headquarters	Dallas, Texas, USA
Key people	Dan and Frank Carney (founders) David C. Novak (CEO)
Products	Pizza, Pasta
Number of employees	300,000+
Website	pizzahut.com

Pizza Hut is a restaurant chain and international franchise based in Dallas, Texas, USA, specializing in American-style pizza along with side dishes including buffalo wings, breadsticks, and garlic bread. Pizza Hut is the world's largest pizza restaurant chain and is part of the YUM! family of restaurants. YUM! brand restaurants total approximately 34,000 restaurants, delivery-carry out units, and kiosks in 100 countries.

History

Typical small town location in the U.S. Midwest

Pizza Hut was founded in 1958 by Dan and Frank Carney in Wichita, Kansas. It was named Pizza Hut because they wanted the word "pizza" in the title and because there were only three spaces left after "Pizza" in the sign, and the facility was shaped like a hut. 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 for 1.2 billion.

Pizza Hut was spun-off from Pepsi Cola, in October 1997, into 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 logo. The current design was adopted in 1969, and updated in 1999.

Pizza Hut has recently entered the Italian restaurant market through its chain of Pizza Hut Italian Bistro restaurants[1]. These restaurants serve pizza as well as pastas, and also toasted sandwiches. This chain has only developed recently and has been growing in number across the United States. Another new chain called Pizza Hut Wing Street[2] has a menu consisting primarily of buffalo wings.

In 2001 Pizza Hut started taking online orders in 3 markets and as of autumn 2006 has online ordering available in over 3000 US locations and Canada. Pizza Hut contracted with the e-commerce company QuikOrder, Inc.[3] to provide online ordering.

Formats

One of the Pizza hut's various logos that was used until 2004.

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, as well as breadsticks are premade for customers to pick up. Some of these are combined with express versions of KFC and Taco Bell.

Products

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An advertisement for Pizza Hut's Pan Pizza

The most commonly sold food at the restaurants is the "Pan Pizza", which usually comes in four different sizes including Personal Pan (which is an individual serving), Small, Medium, and Large, in a variety of toppings, including "specialty" styles. Pan Pizza has a thicker crust than most other commercially available pizzas.

In addition to the Pan Pizza, Pizza Hut also sells "Stuffed Crust" (with the outermost edge wrapped around a coil of mozzarella cheese), "Hand-Tossed" (which is more like traditional pizzeria crusts), "Thin 'N Crispy" (a thin and crispy dough which was the original crust), and the "4 for All" (a medium sized pizza that has been divided into 4 individual serving sized squares). The purpose of the "4 for all" is so 4 people could enjoy seperate recipes for the price of one medium pizza.

Pizza Hut has experimented with new products frequently. Less successful ones have been discontinued. These include Chicago Dish Pizza, and "Bigfoot", a large rectangular pie sold in the mid-1990s, which was promoted with commercials touting its size. However the Sicilian Pizza made a 2006 comeback. Other products Pizza Hut have offered are the "P'zone", Pizza Hut's version of the calzone, the "Cheesy bites", similar to the "Stuffed crust" except the crust has been divided into bite sized pieces that can be pulled apart, and the "Insider" where a layer of cheese is in between the dough itself.

International operation

Typical location in Mexico, equipped with motorcycles for pizza delivery

Pizza Hut restaurants 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 the United States and Canada.

UK & Ireland

Pizza Hut restaurant in Oxford, England, United Kingdom

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

• Pan Pizza,
• "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, and
• cheesy bites. (Small, cheese-filled garlic bread bites.)

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

Australia & New Zealand

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 away and delivery operations with all orders processed by two major call centers located in Brisbane and Sydney. Originally, Australian Pizza Huts were full service sit-down restaurants, 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.

Bangladesh

an outlet in Chittagong,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. Another 2/3 outlets are set to start operations soon. All food served in the outlets in Bangladesh are halal.

Sri Lanka

Pizza Hut in Sri Lanka is one of the first variety chain stores in the country. Currently Pizza hut offers an online ordering system which delivers to the following outlets: Colombo, Negombo, Kandy, Kiribathgoda, Kotahena, Colpetty, Union Place,Rajagiriya, Havelock Rd., Malabe, Dehiwala, Nugegoda, Thalawathugoda, Moratuwa and Maharagama.

Pakistan

In Pakistan, Pizza Hut introduced itself in 1994 and serves 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, Rawalpindi and Islamabad. These outlets offer a wide variety of pizza, combining western and eastern recipes. Pizza Hut Pakistan also offers an "All you can eat and drink" deal in the holy month of Ramadan.

Malaysia

In Malaysia Pizza Hut offers toppings that do not contain pork to comply with the Muslim faith, instead uses substitutions made with chicken or turkey.

India

Pizza Hut came to India in 1996 with a dine in restaurant Bangalore that had special vegetarian pizzas. In additional to traditional 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 Indian cities like Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Jaipur, Lucknow, New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkatta, Chennai, Pune, Surat, Coimbatore, Amritsar, Cochin and Hyderabad (with multiple branches in many of those cities), Ahmedabad .

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.

The popular slogan is:

• Great pizza under one roof

Hong Kong

Pizza Hut at Ocean Terminal, Hong Kong

The first Pizza Hut in Hong Kong was opened in 1981, in the basement of The Landmark (demolished in 2000 with the Landmark East portion of the complex). It currently has 54 restaurants over Hong Kong, 34 being "express" restaurants and 20 being full service restaurants.

A Pizza Hut restaurant in Yingwanzhen, Changsha, Hunan

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 as well as the traditional pizza (including traditional toppings and others like tuna).

Advertising

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Pizza Hut ad with the Muppets

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Pizza Hut "Dippin' Strips" ad

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 1993-1997 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 1995, Ringo Starr starred in a Pizza Hut commercial which also featured The Monkees.

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 the character's life.

Pizza Hut sponsored the first space pizza delivery in 2001, and paid for their logo to appear on a Russian Proton rocket in 2000.

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

Slogans

• "Putt-Putt to Pizza Hut" (From original television commercial).
• "Pizza Hut, oh yeah and nothin' but!"
• "Makin' it great!"
• "You'll love the stuff we're made of." (U.S., circa 1995)
• "The best pizza under one roof."
• "Gather 'round the good stuff." (U.S., 2003-Present)
• "Go for the good stuff"
• "Stop and Smell that pizza."
• "You do the Maths, We do the Pizza."(UK)
• "Lets hit the Hutters!"
• "Eat. Laugh. Share." (Pizza Hut Canada)
• "Go Deep and long"
• "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.)
• "One-Three-Double One-Double Six...Pizza Hut Delivery" (Australia, sung to the tune of the William Tell Overture, although modified in some cities that do not use the nationwide number)
• "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)
• Pinaka-Pizza, Pizza Hut, (used in the Philippines as well)
• "Great pizzas, great times"
• "Grab a slice of the Huts"
• "In good company"
• "Tak jak lubisz" - "The way you like it" (Poland)
• "Your Kama'aina pizza hut!" (Hawaii)
• "Makin' it Great, in '88!" (1988 campaign)
• "Aare wah! Pizza Hut bhoth awesome hai!" (Pakistan & India)
• "Hot, Fresh and Fast!" (New Zealand)
• "Pizza Hut Delivers!" (New Zealand)
• "Cette pizza goûte mieux que des cuisses de grenouille!" (France, slogan means "This pizza tastes better than frog's legs!")
• "Pizza Hut, láttu sjá þig" (Iceland)
• "Dinner Now, Breakfast Tomorrow."
• "Nice Mix!" (Pizza Hut Burlington, Ontario)
• "Heavy Custom!" (Pizza Hut Burlington, Ontario)
• "Call 310-10-10... Pizza Hut! (Vancouver, Canada)
• " 0800 838383.... Pick up Pizza Hut (United Kingdom)
• "The tasty treat you just can't beat (India)

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 books according to the goal set by the classroom teacher 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 its students 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.

Pizza Hut was the shirt sponsor of English football team Fulham F.C..

In 2000, Pizza Hut was a part-time sponsor of Galaxy Motorsports' #75 Ford in the then NASCAR Winston Cup Series, driven by Wally Dallenbach Jr.

Unions

In more recent history, Pizza Hut's delivery drivers have been organizing into unions [4]. 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 [5]. Such unions include SEIU and APDD. In addition to wages, many Pizza Hut drivers have safety and job security concerns. As of October 2006 no union has successfully recruited in any company-owned Pizza Hut restaurants.

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.

Cultural references

• The 1976 film The Bad News Bears has a sequence early in the film where all the coaches of the Little League teams for the upcoming season congregate at a Pizza Hut.
• 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 Universal's The Land Before Time (1988) and New Line's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) were first released on VHS and laserdisc, they started with Pizza Hut commercials.
• 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 Mooby's 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.
• The Japanese anime Code Geass - Lelouch of the Rebellion includes several sightings of the Pizza Hut logo. One of the main characters, C.C., orders Pizza Hut pizza frequently. In episode 7, it's revealed that she is saving up points from orders to collect a "Cheese-kun Holding Pillow". The pillow appears in episode 13.
• Pizza Hut was prominently featured in the 2006 Happy Madison film, The Benchwarmers. Whenever a baseball team wins a game in the film, it goes to celebrate at Pizza Hut. Furthermore, the character played by David Spade tries to win over a girl who fills the salad bar at Pizza Hut with the line "I like salad". The final celebration in the film takes place at the restaurant.
• In mid-2003, MGM Home Entertainment released DVD copies of the films All Dogs Go to Heaven 2, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Honeymoon in Vegas, and Mr. Mom at the Pizza Hut restaurant.

Trivia

• During the August coup in Russia which eventually led to the collapse of the Soviet Union, then-Russian SFSR president Boris Yeltsin famously ordered Pizza Hut for everyone barricaded in the Russian White House during the coup.
• The longest continuously-operating Pizza Hut in the world is in Manhattan, Kansas, in a shopping district next to the Kansas State University campus called Aggieville.
• 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.
• In Germany, Pizza Hut is sometimes 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; it grosses an average $6500 a day.
• There is a Pizza Hut across the road from the Great Pyramids of Giza.
• The only Pizza Hut to offer Coca-Cola is located in the Student Center on the Georgia Institute of Technology campus. Georgia Tech is located in Atlanta, Georgia, the world headquaters of Coke, and has numerous financial ties to the Coca-Cola Company.
• Pizza Hut has no restaurants in Italy.
• The band Ween was once commisioned to create a jingle for the "Insider" pizza, but instead they created a purposefully bad song because they dislike Pizza Hut. When that jingle was rejected, they created another, nearly identical jingle with extra cursing being hte only difference. The song is titled, "Where'd the Cheese Go?"

Pizza Hut hade a cameo appearance in the movie "Wayne's World" when Wayne said he "would not bow to any sponsor", while picking up a Pizza Hut box and eating a piece of pizza, clearing contradicting himself by doing so.

External links

• Official Website
• Directory of international websites