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 (1977–97)

Yum! Brands (1997–present)

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 México. 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 America’s 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 P’s 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.