Failed franchises bankruptcies and Almost no growth in revenue for the last 10 years this is the sad reality for Pizza Hut who have had so many store Closures that there's now a subreddit Dedicated to fighting former Pizza Hut Restaurants to understand why Pizza Hut Has lost almost half of its market share Over the last 20 years we have to begin By asking the following question why was Pizza Hut so unique and successful in The first place back in the 1990s Pizza Hut had a reputation for having some of The craziest yet most unique and Successful pizza designs which were not Only delicious but also gave the public A reason to talk about the business for Example in 1993 Peter released the Bigfoot a massive two feet long by one Foot wide square pizza Creation with the Bigfoot accounting for 18 of total sales There was also the cheeseburger Crust Pizza the hot dog crust pizza and the Cornflakes Crust Pizza however none of These were as successful as the now Famous stuffed crust pizza which Achieved sales of 1 billion in the first Year boosting Pizza stock price by Roughly 50 percent of course this Strategy led to the occasional flop such As their controversial lasagna Pizza Which was described in a review as the Worst thing I've ever eaten in my life Genuinely but for the most part these
Experiments seem to help Pizza Hut stand Out from the crowd especially when they Were served in their distinct dining in Restaurants these restaurants added a Social element to Pizza turning it into An event as opposed to just another meal The early memories that we all have of Going to dine in at our local Pizza Hut Are infinitely more memorable than the Hundreds of times we've ordered takeaway From Domino's during the dine-in Days Pizza Hut had something that physically Separated them from the competition Nobody could offer an experience quite Like Pizza Hut providing them with Unbelievable levels of success Especially in the early days Pizza Hut Had the Monopoly on pizza and you paid Through the nose for one at first they Had to educate the dining public with Little signs saying Pizza is Traditionally eaten with the fingers for The first few years I remember that There was no takeaway dining only I Remembered that a family-sized pizza Cost around twenty dollars nowadays that Would equate to probably fifty dollars Or more for a pizza people paid it Because they were experiencing this Delicious food for the first time the Pizza Hut dining experience was Seemingly profitable in the beginning But this didn't mean that it was going To be successful forever some insane
Anecdotes claimed that a new source Destroyed Pizza Hut dining completely or That dining was destroyed by their staff Choices however the main issues seemed To come from other competing Pizza Brands who were specializing in delivery There's something about pizza that makes It perfect for eating at home the Box Acts as a plate there's no Cutlery Needed and the compact designer Pizza Reduces the potential for Mass Domino's Began to take advantage of this at a Time when Pizza Hut didn't even offer Delivery in fact petard only began Delivering pizzas 27 years after Launching their business doing so Because they saw how successful Domino's Was the convenience of delivery meant That you didn't need to go to a dining Restaurant if you wanted to eat pizza And if you did desperately want all you Can eat pizza hut you could literally Just go to any all-you-can-eat Restaurant offering pizza and eat your Eight slices along with a hundred other Food options pizza was no longer an Exclusive thing in the same way that it Was in the early days of Pizza Hut this Lack of exclusivity in combination with Delivery also shifted people's Perceptions of how prestigious pizza was As mentioned earlier Pizza Hut adopted The dining model when pizza was an Exclusive new dish from Italy however
Dominoes and delivery in general turned Pizza into just another fast food Pizza Hut became no fancier than McDonald's or KFC so why would you take your family to Eat there as a special occasion then There was Pizza Hut's increased pricing And decreased quality overnight the Price went up from 649 to 8.49 the high School students previously a common Sight disappeared with fewer people the Quality suffered pizza was always more Expensive than the Alternatives Affordable only when getting second Third fourth pizzas at a reduced price But it got more expensive the pizza Remained very greasy and people started Eating low carb there are better Alternatives especially for that money Yeah CFO David Gibbs made the claim that Having done in restaurants is now a Negative for the business stating the Challenge Pizza Hut faces is that it has A large dining business dining is waning In relevance in other words Pizza Hut Needs to focus Less on dining and more On what people want which is to take Their pizza with them this was also Highlighted by Arty Stars the president Of Pizza Hut USA who stated the biggest Problem that Pizza Hut is facing is Perception explaining that many of its Customers don't associate Pizza Hut with Delivery here star said the facade of Its locations reinforces this idea and
It isn't helping to lure indiners when You drive by the location it doesn't Scream we deliver to promote delivery to Its customers pizza delivered Pizza to Space the Oscars and the top of Mount Kilimanjaro but it still seems as though They aren't competitive on delivery and On the topic of Pizza Hut in comparison To its competition we should also Highlight that Pizza Hut is extremely Uncompetitive from a health perspective Their standard pepperoni pizza contains A whopping 8153 Kilojoules equal to almost 2 000 Calories which is close to the entire Recommended daily adult calorie intake And has almost twice as many calories as Domino's pepperoni pizza which has 4453 kilojoules or a little over a Thousand calories but it's not fair to Make this point unless we see the size And quality of each pizza so we ordered A pepperoni from Domino's before doing The same with the nearby Pizza Hut in Order to compare the two different Pizzas as mentioned the Domino's Pepperoni came in at 1064 calories while The Pizza Hut pepperoni came in at 1948 calories and with the Pizza Hut Pepperoni costing double the price of The Domino's pepperoni you might expect That the Pizza Hut pizza would be double The size however as you can tell from The opening this isn't the case
Whatsoever the Domino's Pizza had a Surface area of 510 square centimeters While the Pizza Hut pizza had a surface Area only 12 percent larger at 572 Square centimeters Additionally the Pizza and pepperoni weighed in at 1.46 Pounds making it only seven percent Heavier than the Dom Domino's Pizza at 1.36 pounds now to Peter's credit their Pizza definitely presented and Subjectively even tasted better than Domino's however with the Pizza Hut Pepperoni being double the price and Double the calories with no real Distinct Advantage it becomes obvious as To why Pizza Hut has become Uncompetitive when looking at Pizza Hut's menu you'll also notice that the Days of Pizza Hut trying wacky Unconventional designs are certainly Long gone the only crazy product that They have on their website is a range of Pizzas which use a chicken schnitzel as The base but apart from that almost Everything else on the menu feels like Something you could get from Domino's at A cheaper price nowadays there's so many Restaurants not just dedicated pizzerias That offer Pizza on their menu that you Can simply get better quality food at Discounted low prices at other places It's not even worth using Pizza Hut for Pizza anymore you'll get better results Elsewhere now to Pizza Hut's credit they
Did try to overhaul the menu back in 2014 when they introduced their biggest Brand Evolution ever called flavor of Now which introduced countless different New fancier menu new items and was Described as the biggest change the Pizza Hut and the pizza category has Ever seen however their new upscale Approach had minimal impact on Pizza Hut's Revenue which actually declined by 100 million in the same year that they Implemented flavor of now which becomes Even worse if you consider that during The same time period Domino sales Grew From 10 billion to 15.8 billion and if We instead look at older data we can see That the average sales per store has Barely changed since 2006 which is about The point where the dining model died While a consistent 12 billion per year Over the last 10 years still seems like A pretty awesome scenario the growth Experienced by competing Pizza brands Has led Pizza Hut's market share to Decrease from 25 in 1995 to 14.3 percent In 2016. 2016 also marked the year where Pizza Hut lost their 45-year long title Of the world's largest pizza branded Dominoes however their stagnant Revenue Has cost significantly worse problems Than simply losing some arbitrary title For example in August 2000 19. Pizza Hut Announced that they plan on shutting Down over 500 underperforming stores in
The US and exactly one year after that In August 2020 Pizza Hut's largest Franchisor NPC announced that they were Bankrupt having roughly a billion Dollars in debt forcing them to close 300 of their Pizza Hut franchises and Put their remaining 927 stores up for Sale representing one-fifth of every Pizza Hut restaurant in America one Month after this Pizza Hut announced That they'd be closing more than 10 of Its stores in the UK with this taking Place in the very same year that Dominoes and Papa John's had net gains Of 17.6 and 15.9 respectively in the Process pizza was undergoing a logo Change although not to something fresh Representing a bright future but rather To the same logo used during the Pizza Hut Glory Days of 1974 to 1999. Pizza Hut's Chief brand officer Marianne Radley stated embracing our iconic Pizza Hut logo is recognition of a time period Where Pizza Hut unequivocally Reigns Supreme because that's where future is Headed however at the same time it feels As though they're desperate to remind The world that Pizza Hut still exists And this doesn't sound like the kind of Play made by a company who's going to be Reigning Supreme anytime in the near Future