How the Public Lost Interest in Its Taste for the Pizza Hut Chain

Once, the popular pizza chain was the top choice for parents and children to enjoy its eat-as-much-as-you-like offering, endless salad selection, and self-serve ice-cream.

Yet a declining number of diners are choosing the restaurant nowadays, and it is closing 50% of its UK outlets after being bought out of administration for the second instance this year.

It was common to visit Pizza Hut when I was a child,” explains a young adult. “It was like a family thing, you'd go on a Sunday – make a day of it.” But now, as a young adult, she states “it's no longer popular.”

According to young customer Martina, the very elements Pizza Hut has been recognized for since it started in the UK in the mid-20th century are now not-so-hot.

“How they do their buffet and their salad bar, it seems as if they are cutting corners and have inferior offerings... They're giving away so much food and you're like ‘How is that possible?’”

As ingredient expenses have risen sharply, Pizza Hut's unlimited dining format has become quite costly to maintain. The same goes for its outlets, which are being cut from 132 to 64.

The chain, like many others, has also seen its expenses go up. Earlier this year, employee wages increased due to rises in minimum wages and an increase in employer social security payments.

A couple in their thirties and twenties mention they would often visit at Pizza Hut for a date “occasionally”, but now they order in Domino's and think Pizza Hut is “not good value”.

Depending on your choices, Pizza Hut and Domino's rates are comparable, notes a food expert.

Even though Pizza Hut provides off-premise options through delivery platforms, it is losing out to major competitors which focus exclusively to the delivery sector.

“The rival chain has taken over the takeaway pizza sector thanks to strong promotions and constantly running deals that make shoppers feel like they're getting a bargain, when in reality the standard rates are relatively expensive,” explains the expert.

However for these customers it is justified to get their date night delivered to their door.

“We absolutely dine at home now more than we eat out,” says the female customer, echoing current figures that show a drop in people frequenting quick-service eateries.

During the summer months, informal dining venues saw a 6% drop in customers compared to the previous year.

There is also a further alternative to restaurant and takeaway pizzas: the supermarket pizza.

An industry leader, global lead for leisure at a major consultancy, notes that not only have grocery stores been selling good-standard prepared pies for years – some are even selling countertop ovens.

“Evolving preferences are also playing a factor in the performance of fast-food chains,” states the expert.

The increased interest of low-carb regimens has driven sales at grilled chicken brands, while affecting sales of carb-heavy pizza, he notes.

Since people visit restaurants not as often, they may seek out a more premium experience, and Pizza Hut's American-diner style with vinyl benches and red and white checked plastic table cloths can feel more old-fashioned than upmarket.

The rise of premium pizza outlets” over the last decade and a half, such as popular brands, has “completely altered the consumer view of what excellent pie is,” notes the food expert.

“A thin, flavorful, gentle crust with a select ingredients, not the massively greasy, heavy and overloaded pizzas of the past. That, arguably, is what's led to Pizza Hut's decline,” she says.

“Who would choose to spend nearly eighteen pounds on a tiny, mediocre, unsatisfying pizza from a franchise when you can get a beautiful, masterfully-made Margherita for under a tenner at one of the many authentic Italian pizzerias around the country?

“It's a no-brainer.”

A mobile pizza vendor, who runs Smokey Deez based in Suffolk says: “It's not that stopped liking pizza – they just want better pizza for their money.”

He says his flexible operation can offer premium pizza at reasonable rates, and that Pizza Hut faced challenges because it was unable to evolve with new customer habits.

At a small pizza brand in Bristol, owner Jack Lander says the pizza market is expanding but Pizza Hut has failed to offer anything fresh.

“You now have slice concepts, London pizza, new haven, fermented dough, wood-fired, deep-dish – it's a wonderful array for a pizza-loving consumer to discover.”

Jack says Pizza Hut “needs to reinvent itself” as newer generations don't have any sense of nostalgia or allegiance to the chain.

Gradually, Pizza Hut's share has been sliced up and allocated to its trendier, more nimble competitors. To sustain its costly operations, it would have to raise prices – which industry analysts say is tough at a time when household budgets are decreasing.

The managing director of Pizza Hut's global operations said the buyout aimed “to safeguard our customer service and retain staff where possible”.

He said its first focus was to keep running at the open outlets and takeaway hubs and to help employees through the transition.

But with significant funds going into operating its locations, it likely can't afford to invest too much in its takeaway operation because the industry is “difficult and partnering with existing external services comes at a cost”, experts say.

However, it's noted, cutting its costs by exiting crowded locations could be a good way to adapt.