Pizza Hut, Inc.

Type

Wholly owned subsidiary

Industry

Restaurants

Founded

Wichita, Kansas (1958)

Founders

Dan and Frank Carney

Headquarters

7100 Corporate Drive

Plano, TX 75024, U.S.[1]

Number of locations

11,139 worldwide (as of 2012)

Products

Italian-American cuisine
pizza pasta Buffalo Wings

Employees

160,000+

Parent

PepsiCo (197797)
Yum! Brands (1997present)

Website

pizzahut.com

Pizza Hut is an American restaurant chain and international franchise, known for pizza and side
dishes, it is now corporately known as Pizza Hut, Inc. and is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc., the
world's largest restaurant company.[2]

In 2012, the company had more than 6,000 Pizza Hut restaurants in the United States, and had
more than 5,139 store locations in 94 other countries and territories around the world. [3]

Concept[edit]

Athens, Ohio: distinctive roof and older white sign used before 1999, typical of U.S. Pizza Hut restaurants

Pizza Hut is split into several different restaurant formats; the original family-style dine-in locations;
store front delivery and carry-out locations; and hybrid locations that offer carry-out, delivery, and
dine-in options. Many full-size Pizza Hut locations offer lunch buffet, with "all-you-can-eat" pizza,
salad, bread sticks, and a special pasta. Additionally, Pizza Hut also has a number of other business
concepts that are different from the store type; Pizza Hut "Bistro" locations are "Red Roofs" which
offer an expanded menu and slightly more upscale options.
A new, upscale concept was unveiled in 2004, called "Pizza Hut Italian Bistro". Unveiled at fifty
locations nationwide, the Bistro is similar to a traditional Pizza Hut, except that new, Italian themed
dishes are offered, such as penne pasta, chicken pomodoro, toasted sandwiches and other foods.
[4]

Instead of black, white, and red, Bistro locations feature a burgundy and tan motif. [5] Pizza Hut

Bistros still serve the chain's traditional pizzas and sides as well. In some cases, Pizza Hut has
replaced a "Red Roof" location with the new concept. "Pizza Hut Express" and "The Hut" locations
are fast food restaurants. They offer a limited menu with many products not found at traditional Pizza
Huts. These type of stores are often paired in a colocatedlocation with a sibling brand such
as WingStreet, KFC or Taco Bell, and are also found on college campuses, food courts, theme
parks, bowling alleys, and in stores such as Target.
Vintage "Red Roof" locations, designed by architect Richard D. Burke, can be found throughout the
United States and Canada; several exist in the UK,[citation needed] Australia, and Mxico. In his
book Orange Roofs, Golden Arches, Phillip Langdon wrote that the Pizza Hut "Red Roof"
architecture "is something of a strange object considered outside the realm of significant
architecture, yet swiftly reflecting shifts in popular taste and unquestionably making an impact on
daily life. These buildings rarely show up in architectural journals, yet they have become some of the
most numerous and conspicuous in the United States today." [6]
Curbed.com reports, "Despite Pizza Hut's decision to discontinue the form when they made the shift
toward delivery, there were still 6,304 'traditional units' standing as of 2004, each with the shingled

roofs and trapezoidal windows signifying equal parts suburban comfort and strip-mall anomie." This
building style was common in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The name "Red Roof" is somewhat
anachronistic now, since many locations have brown roofs. Dozens of "Red Roofs" have closed or
been relocated or rebuilt.[7]
Many "Red Roof" branches have beer if not a full bar, music from a jukebox, and sometimes an
arcade. In the mid 1980s, the company moved into other successful formats including delivery or
carryout and the fast food "Express" model.

History[edit]
This section
requires expansionwith: succinct
core corporate timeline. (July 2014)

Pizza Hut was founded in 1958 by two University of Wichita students, Frank and Dan Carney, as a
single location in Wichita, Kansas.[8] The oldest continuously operating Pizza Hut in the world is
in Manhattan, Kansas, in a shopping and tavern district known as Aggieville near Kansas State
University. The first Pizza Hut restaurant east of the Mississippi was opened in Athens, Ohio in 1966
by Lawrence Berberick and Gary Meyers.
Pizza Hut's international presence includes Canada and Mexico in North America, India, [9]
[10]

Bangladesh,[11][12] United Kingdom, Costa Rica, Ecuador[13] Nicaragua, Pakistan, and its Southeast

Asian presence includes Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Macau. [citation needed]
Pizza Hut was one of the first American franchises to open in Iraq. [14]
The company recently announced a rebrand in November 2014 to begin on November 19, 2014.
The rebrand is the result of an effort to increase sales, which have dropped in the last two years. The
menu will also be expanded to introduce various items such as crust flavors and eleven new
specialty pies. Work uniforms for employees will also be refreshed.

[15]

Products[edit]
Pizza Hut experiments with new products frequently, discontinuing less successful ones. In North
America, Pizza Hut has notably sold these: "Stuffed crust" pizza, with the outermost edge wrapped
around a cylinder of mozzarella cheese; "Hand-Tossed", more like traditional pizzeria crusts; Thin 'N
Crispy, a thin, crisp dough which was Pizza Hut's original style; Dippin' Strips pizza, a pizza cut into
small strips that can be dipped into a number of sauces; and its largest product, the Bigfoot pizza.
The Stuffed Crust pizza was introduced in March 26, 1995. By the end of the year it had become
one of their most popular lines.[16]

There are regional differences in the products and bases sold.[17] The company has localized to
Southeast Asia with a baked rice dish called Curry Zazzle.[18][19]
On May 9, 2008, Pizza Hut created and sold in Seattle, Denver, and Dallas, "The Natural", featuring
organic ingredients. This was discontinued on October 27, 2009 in the Dallas market. [20]
Pizza Hut developed a pizza for use as space food, which was delivered to the International Space
Station in 2001.[21] It was vacuum sealed and about 6 inches (15 cm) in diameter to fit in the Station's
oven.[21] It was launched on a Soyuz and successfully eaten by Yuri Usachov in orbit. [22]

Advertising[edit]
The original Pizza Hut logo, used from 1958 until 1967

Logo from 1967[citation needed] to 1999 (still in use at some older locations)

Pizza Hut's very first ad in 1965 was "Putt Putt to the Pizza Hut". It shows a man in a suit and tie
apparently ordering take-out and driving his 1965 Mustang JR to Pizza Hut while being chased by
townspeople. He picks up his pizza and goes back to his house, when all of the townspeople who
were chasing him start eating all the pizza except the man who ordered it. Frustrated, he calls Pizza
Hut again.
Until early 2007, Pizza Hut's main advertising slogan was "Gather 'round the good stuff", and was
"Now You're Eating!" from 2008 to 2009. From 2009 to 2012, the advertising slogan was "Your
Favorites. Your Pizza Hut." The advertising slogan is currently "Make it great," an updated version of
the original "Makin' it great" slogan that was used from 1987 to 1993.
In 1997, former Soviet Union Premier Mikhail Gorbachev starred in a Pizza Hut commercial to raise
money for the Perestroyka Archives. Pizza Hut paid for their logo to appear on a Russian Proton
rocket in 2000, which launched the Russian Zvezda module.[23]

Book It![edit]
Pizza delivery moped in Hong Kong

Pizza Hut has been a sponsor of the Book It! reading incentive program for children since the
program's launch in 1984.[24] Students who read books according to the goal set by the classroom
teacher, in any given month from October through March, are rewarded with a Pizza Hut certificate
good for one free, one-topping Personal Pan Pizza. The program has been criticized by some
psychologists on the grounds that it may lead to overjustification and reduce children's intrinsic
interest in reading.[25] However, a study of the program found that participation in the program neither
increased nor decreased reading motivation.[25] The program's 25th anniversary was in 2009. The

Book It! program in Australia ceased in 2002 when Pizza Hut in Australia was removing its dine-in
stores as Australians opted for take away pizza instead of dine-in. [citation needed]

Controversy[edit]
In the UK, Pizza Hut was criticized in 2007 for the high salt content of its meals, some of which were
found to contain more than twice the daily recommended amount of salt for an adult. The meats that
consumers demand for pizza toppings (ham, sausage, bacon, etc.) are, likewise, salty and fatty
meats.[26]
To meet the Food Standards Agency 2010 target for salt levels in foods, between 2008 and 2010 the
company removed over 15% of salt across its menu. [27]
In 2010, Pizza Hut was criticized when its supplier of palm oil, Sinar Mas, was exposed to be illegally
slashing and burning the Paradise Forests of Indonesia to plant palm oil plantations. [28]
Pizza Hut's role in providing food-based rewards for the children's reading program Book It!, has
been criticized by some psychologists on the grounds that it may lead to overjustification and reduce
children's intrinsic interest in reading.[25] Book It! was also criticised by the Campaign for a
Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) in 2007 who described it as "one of corporate Americas most
insidious school-based brand promotions." A pamphlet produced by the group argued that the
program promoted junk food to a captive market, made teachers into promoters for Pizza Hut and
undermined parents by making visits to the chain an integral part of bringing up their children to be
literate.[29]
Home marketing mix Marketing mix of Pizza Hut

Marketing mix of Pizza Hut

Pizza hut is one of the leading pizza fast food chains in India. The pizza chain was one of
the first entrants in India for pizza and was soon followed by Dominos. However, the
pizza chain continues to maintain its premium image. This article discusses the
marketing mix of Pizza hut which falls in services marketing and hence 7 Ps of Pizza hut
are mentioned herewith.
Product in marketing mix of Pizza hut - Pizza hut is most prominently known for
its Italian products, viz Pizzas, breads and pastas. But at the same time, due to
increasing competition from Dominos, McDonalds and KFC, Pizza hut has gone local as
well with its Birizza which is a type of Biryani. However, the pizza hut chain is most
known for its tasty variety of Pizzas. The product characteristic of Pizza hut pizzas is that

the pizzas are high quality and are served in sizeable portions. Thus, people love the rich
taste of pizzas and pastas of Pizza hut. Another companion of Pizza hut is the Pizza hut
delivery, which like Dominos, is concentrated on delivering the pizzas at home.
Price in the marketing mix of Pizza hut - The pricing of Pizza hut is premium /
skimming pricing. Pizza hut knows that it is the first entrant for pizzas in India. On top
of it, Pizza hut provides higher quality food as compared to its competitors and at the
same time the ambiance of the pizza hut chain is better and richer than most of its
competitors who serve Italian products. Thus, even though Pizza hut has a premium
pricing, people prefer Pizza hut over others.
Place in the marketing mix of Pizza hut - Pizza hut is present in most of the A
grade places across urban areas. This placement helps Pizza hut maintain its
premium positioning in the mind of people, because B grade town people will have to go
to the A listers area to actually have a pizza hut pizza. On the other hand, A grade towns
are more likely to have pizza from pizza hut than from dominos because of the price
positioning. Due to a higher price, and a higher quality of food, pizza hut has to be
present in A grade towns only. In B grade towns, people would more likely prefer the
more affordable Dominos.
Promotions in the marketing mix of Pizza hut - Pizza hut is known to be a smart
promoter for its own products. The ATL promotions mostly concentrate on introduction
of new products as well as to build brand equity. During festivals, the ads take a
different route and promote discounts and offers on products to attract customers. At
the same time, pizza hut does several enterprise discounts as well and gives discounts to
corporate customers. Finally, the success of the chain depends on local marketing. And
local marketing depends on the local pizza hut outlet which may use BTL activities like
hoardings, newspaper inserts, guiding customers to the outlet and lollipops.
People in marketing mix of Pizza hut - The best part of Pizza hut are the people.
Pizza hut introduced a novel way of showing customer appreciation the bell. Anyone
who rings the bell on exiting from Pizza hut is greeted with a loud thank you from all the
waiters in Pizza hut. These people also do performances frequently on celebrations and
most important of all, the pizza hut chain has the most polite and well mannered people
in the fast food industry.

Physical evidence in the marketing mix of Pizza hut - The only reason Pizza hut
is able to demand premium pricing is because of its physical evidence and the ambiance.
The cutlery of Pizza hut is fantastic and it is an enjoyable experience to have the pizza
out of the pan right into our plate. The bowls served along with pasta are also good. The
glasses are big. And the seats and tables are comfortably spaced giving people the
complete experience of luxury dining. Combine that with the excellent people in Pizza
hut and you have an excellent afternoon or evening of dining out for Italian cuisine.
Process in the marketing mix of Pizza hut - Pizza hut serves only freshly made
Pizza and pastas. The process of Pizza hut involves having the raw materials half
prepared in the kitchens of Pizza hut. Once the order is received, the pizza is
immediately prepared and served hot. In case of pizza hut delivery, pizza hut has gone a
further length and introduced a hot mark on all their packaging for Home delivery. If
the mark is not red, than the pizza is not hot and it can be returned to the outlet.
Furthermore the outlet also promises 30 minutes delivery for which it has to maintain a
slew of drivers who deliver the pizza.
This completes the marketing mix of Pizza hut. The reality of the market is that Pizza
hut is a fantastic food chain, but it is slowly being overtaken by Dominos because of the
presence of Dominos to deliver pizzas to even B grade towns and cities. Ignoring the B
grade towns is a deliberate marketing strategy of Pizza hut. But in the long term,
whether this marketing strategy is right or wrong, only time will tell.