The BBC has harsh words about Pizza Hut

[mikeymikec]

What went wrong with Pizza Hut?

Up against the likes of Domino's, Pizza Hut is closing half its UK restaurants. What went wrong?

www.bbc.co.uk

As people go out to eat less frequently they may look for a more a premium experience and Pizza Hut's American-diner style with booth seating can feel more retro than upmarket.
The "explosion of high-quality pizzerias" over the last 10 to 15 years, such as Franco Manca, has "fundamentally changed the public's perception of what good pizza is," says Ms Crouch.
"A light, fresh, easy-to-digest product with a few choice toppings, not the massively greasy, heavy and overloaded pizzas of the past. That, I think, is what's caused Pizza Hut's downfall," she says.
"Why would anyone spend £17.99 on a small, substandard, disappointing pizza from a chain 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."

... says Giulia Crouch, food expert and author of The Happiest Diet in the World.

But I have to agree, PH tastes like each topping has been individually fried.

 

[lxskllr]

"when you can get a beautiful, masterfully made Margherita for under a tenner at one of the many authentic Italian pizzerias around the country?"

I might agree if I could get that. I also agree with a $20 pizzahut being a bad deal, or at least more than I want to pay, but my 'hut experiences have been acceptable, if not optimal. Haven't been in years though. If I get pizza out, it's more likely than not littlecaesar. Not a great pizza, but it punches above it's weight for the price charged.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

We've got great local pizza, we still occasionally get chain for nostalgia reasons because they tend to have a consistent taste profile from the past. It's not good pizza though. Certainly not great pizza.

 

[waffleironhead]

I havnt had pizza hut in years. Really liked their pan pizza. The only pizza huts here now are delivery or carryout locations. The sit down locations were razed years ago.

If i want decent pizza with a sit down atmo, I can go to green mill, if i want cheap and hot Little ceasers has me covered(also dominos pan is good)

 

[Chaotic42]

Pizza Hut here is bland and doughy, like everything is massively undercooked. It's just... bad.

 

[lxskllr]

Pizza Hut here is bland and doughy, like everything is massively undercooked. It's just... bad.

Might be because I like thin crust, but I've never had one undercooked.

 

[mikeymikec]

"when you can get a beautiful, masterfully made Margherita for under a tenner at one of the many authentic Italian pizzerias around the country?"

I might agree if I could get that. I also agree with a $20 pizzahut being a bad deal, or at least more than I want to pay, but my 'hut experiences have been acceptable, if not optimal. Haven't been in years though. If I get pizza out, it's more likely than not littlecaesar. Not a great pizza, but it punches above it's weight for the price charged.

I live in a very small UK town and we've got 2-3 *good* pizza restaurants. I wonder if it's because there's local regular food festivals here and so attracted some talent. We've also got several pretty average local pizza delivery places.

I wonder if the likes of Pizza Hut need to fill the gap that McDonalds et al have left behind as IMO McDs is incredibly expensive these days for what it is. If I could pick up PH for a quid or so less than a McDs meal that would be pretty compelling.

 

[lxskllr]

I live in a very small UK town and we've got 2-3 *good* pizza restaurants. I wonder if it's because there's local regular food festivals here and so attracted some talent. We've also got several pretty average local pizza delivery places.

I wonder if the likes of Pizza Hut need to fill the gap that McDonalds et al have left behind as IMO McDs is incredibly expensive these days for what it is. If I could pick up PH for a quid or so less than a McDs meal that would be pretty compelling.

It was the "under a tenner" I was referring to. There's great pizza available, but you'll pay dearly for it. Smaller, more economical indies are a crap shoot. They range from worse than mass produced pies, to very good. I don't eat pizza enough to gamble on new places, and try to find the good ones when I know what I'll get from a chain.

 

[mikeymikec]

It was the "under a tenner" I was referring to. There's great pizza available, but you'll pay dearly for it. Smaller, more economical indies are a crap shoot. They range from worse than mass produced pies, to very good. I don't eat pizza enough to gamble on new places, and try to find the good ones when I know what I'll get from a chain.

Ah ok. I just looked up the price of a Margherita at one of the local good places and it's £8.50; it wouldn't surprise me if they had a city restaurant that it would get pushed to £10-£11 or so. I don't do much travelling and fooding so I wouldn't like to speak with confidence on that point.

 

[Kaido]

Pizza Hut pizza today is a sad shadow of its former self. This is a copycat OG Pizza Hut pan pizza recipe:

Foolproof Pan Pizza Recipe

A pan pizza recipe for those who love a thick and crispy crust that's golden on the bottom, but puffy and soft under the layers of sauce and mozzarella.

www.seriouseats.com

This costs $8 USD for two pizzas with toppings at today's market prices. It requires hardly any effort, just time.

 

[KMFJD]

i go back maybe once every 2 years and it somehow keeps getting greasier...prefer dominos if i gotta go to one of the big guys

 

[Kaido]

i go back maybe once every 2 years and it somehow keeps getting greasier...prefer dominos if i gotta go to one of the big guys

I hate to say it, but Domino's is probably the best of the chains right now...

 

[lxskllr]

Last time I had domino's it was complete shit, but it's been a long time. Waaay back I really liked papa john, but they went to shit at some point. Haven't been there for years either.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Pizza Hut pizza today is a sad shadow of its former self. This is a copycat OG Pizza Hut pan pizza recipe:

Foolproof Pan Pizza Recipe

A pan pizza recipe for those who love a thick and crispy crust that's golden on the bottom, but puffy and soft under the layers of sauce and mozzarella.

www.seriouseats.com

This costs $8 USD for two pizzas with toppings at today's market prices. It requires hardly any effort, just time.

View attachment 132673

I've actually made this several times, it's delicious and frankly my favorite pizza you can make without an actual hot pizza oven.

 

[nakedfrog]

Pizza Hut's heyday definitely ended before the turn of the century, but I also don't see most people here paying $18 for one pizza there (unless they're a bit daft). Right now it looks like you could get 2 five topping pizzas for $23 where I am. But any good local pizzeria is more expensive, we don't have these pizza-under-$10 places (excepting pie-by-the-slice options).

 

[thestrangebrew1]

We have 2 pizza joints in town that are both suboptimal. One is just super expensive for what you get, the other is expensive for barely over Little Caesar's quality. We typically go for the former, they have a family deal for xl 1-topping + garlic cheese bread and a 2 liter for about $32. I'm not a fan of their sauce, and it comes greasy as all get out. LC so far has been the best bang for buck, but I have to drive about 25 mins to get it.

 

[nakedfrog]

I don't think I'd drive 25 minutes for LC, probably stick to Freschetta, or maybe Papa Murphy's.

 

[Chaotic42]

The big problem with chain pizza is that the deals sound good, but there's a $5+ delivery fee and then usually a $7-10+ tip, so that $11 pizza quickly gets to about $25 if you want it delivered.

 

[lxskllr]

I don't do delivery of anything for that reason. The people making it happen deserve to get paid, but I don't want to pay them, and for food especially, it puts the price way out of range for what you get. If I don't want to fetch food myself, I do something else for food.

 

[nakedfrog]

It's an exceedingly rare circumstance when I can justify paying for food delivery, I think in the past 25 years I've done it twice when I wasn't staying at a hotel.

 

[Chaotic42]

No idea why, but pizza is the only hot food I'll get delivered. Maybe it's the nostalgia for the whole ritual back when delivery pizza was worth getting excited over? Pizza Hut is the only place that delivers here and now you have to use their app to get the reward points, which was enough to get me to stop even trying with them. It never really sat well in my stomach anyway.

 

[lxskllr]

Pizza delivery was a cool novelty when it showed up here. I saw it in movies and tv, but it wasn't thing here until the late 80s.

 

[Shmee]

My understanding is that Pizza Hut is pretty much F tier pizza these days, as far as the chains go. At least around here, better deals and better pizza at Dominoes or Little Caesars. Though if I want to tier up the pizza a bit, I will generally go with Mountain Mikes or Pizza Guys.

 

[esquared]

Mountain Mike's used to be the best IMO, but it's regional, only in the West.

Same with Round Table. Always better than Domino's Little Caesars, pizza Hut. They both cost a little more but pizza for under 10.00 is mostly shit.

As nakedfrog said. Just get a freshetta, maybe add a couple extra toppings, if you don't want to spend the money for a better pizza.

 

[lxskllr]

Not familiar with freshetta. Might've had it before. I've found tbe closer frozen pizza tries to be like a pizza shop, the worse it is. I always get the flatbread/thin crust types, and they're decent. Aldi usually has something interesting, but I've mostly been getting random brands from groceryoutlet. Last bunch have been from Italy, but not a brand I remember or recognize.