The Decline of Pizza Hut...What Happened?

[@disconer]

As a general manager ( of Pizza Hut ) back in the 90's, we hand made everything. Cut cheese made dough, cut veggies and meat, buttered garlic bread etc etc. Then they decided to centralized the toppings. Frozen cheese, pre-cut veggies were all sent to us, and the 'flavor' of the deep dish just sank. Doesn't take a genius to see why it's completely lost its luster. RIP

[@j.t.thomas1859]

Yeah they cheapened the ingredients and raised the price. They wanted 30 dollars for 2 one topping pizzas I called too order a few months ago. When they said the price I said no thanks. They're pizza isn't AT ALL worth that price PLUS the quality of their food is garbage now. They used to be so good though back in the day.

[@Katie_Caboose]

@@j.t.thomas1859 Exactly, if I'm going to pay that much, I'd rather pick a local play with fresh and tasty ingredients. The quality is poor and the price is too high. If I wanted cheap quality pizza, I'll go to Little Cesar's for a quarter of the price.

[@grieverff8ff9]

Yeah. Pizza Hut used to be so good. Now it's close the bottom of the barrel. Such a shame.

[@dougp9382]

💯💯💯 True!!

[@mikemesser4326]

That is exactly what I said above before reading this section of the comments. I worked for Pizza Hut back in the late 90's. That must have been around the time they started switching. By the early 2000's I could barely stomach a pizza (or afford, lol. Yeah, that too.) I switched to frozen pizza baked at home. Got better results.

[@RandomBlackGamer]

Its pretty simple. They thought they could undercut consumers with cheap ingredients and reduced labor. The difference in the taste was instantly noticeable. Not only that but the vibe in the restaurant changed. There was a signature atmosphere and smell that you couldn't get in any other pizza restaurant. The smell of the sauce was mesmerizing. Now it smells like old cheese and cardboard. If you would've told me back in the 90s that we would live in an era where Domino's and Little Ceasar's would be better alternatives to Pizza Hut I would laugh in your face. The franchise has fallen off that bad.

[@kussiebussie9715]

👏🏾 Cause Pizza Hut was fireeeeee .

[@allison4516]

It’s because their pizzas are now full of soy. Soy shouldn’t be in pizza. Period. Lol the cheaper the pizza the more soy. And the more reason it tastes like crap

[@dalivus]

I know exactly what you mean! I can still remember the smell like it was yesterday. When I was a kid, Pizza Hut had an even better atmosphere; the restaurant was darker, lit mostly with table lights, as it tried to sell itself as a serious restaurant and not just a pizza joint. I miss that version of Pizza Hut.

[@AbstractTraitorHero]

@@allison4516 Ive never noticed soy being in pizza? I do notice cheap ingredients doh.

[@scottpierce3351]

You're right. It does smell more like cardboard than yummy pizza.

[@hilljack9263]

Almost every Friday when dad would get home from work and we’d go out for groceries, we’d go to Pizza Hut to have a large supreme pizza and some breadsticks. We stopped going in the early 2010s because our local Pizza Hut got so gross and the food went downhill too

[@puggoman902]

Do you still eat Pizza Hut?

[@hilljack9263]

@@puggoman902 every now and then, seems like their quality has came back up lately. I still love their breadsticks though

[@MrDemonsushii]

That sounds like a nice family tradition, at least up until the decline of their food quality.

[@hilljack9263]

@@MrDemonsushii it’s one of my favorite memories from being a kid.

[@jamesmarkham7489]

I worked there in the early 2000's and quality was high. over the years things got worse quality and stretched too thin as they tried to compete with dominos. Now i haven't eaten there in 7 years and no one i know wants to go there.

[@Beyonder369]

"Were going to Pizza Hut!" was a seldom heard phrase that sent me and my brother to Happyville. This was the mid 90's when I feel there quality was an industry standard and the restaurant felt like a restaurant. I visited a Pizza Hut 2 months ago after many years of not eating at chain restaurants. My experience there was extremely dissapointing. The food was terrible. Sucks to get old. On one hand I experienced some of the best America had to offer but I also am witnessing the decline and death of all those great things

[@dragonace119]

I feel you, their pizza now is extremely greesey and nasty and msot of the time the delivery drivers make a mess of your pizza or the pizza is cold by the time it arrives. After one too many times of crappy pizza and deilivery drivers I ended up just switching to Dominos and a local chain.

[@Mr.Corinthians]

@@dragonace119 I don't know about your area, but in mine, Pizza Hut uses DoorDash drivers for a lot of their deliveries, but Dominos only uses in house drivers. If your pizza arrives cold, the most likely case is that Pizza Hut saw it was a low tip or no tip order and passed it on to DoorDash. DoorDash drivers make $2 per delivery, plus any tips if there are any. A DoorDash driver is not obligated to take any offers sent to them, and if the offer shows a very low amount, it is going to get declined for a very long time until DoorDash raises the pay enough to make it acceptable for a driver to pick it up, They generally raise the offer by 25cents every ten minutes, so it can take a very long time until someone decides the payout is worth the gas used and distance. Edit: I should also add that it is very possible that the Pizza Hut stole your tip for themselves, making it appear as there is no tip, which has the same effect as mentioned before.

[@thekingofprotoss4376]

yeah.. that happens when morality isnt promoted.

[@whorton4]

I used to manage a pizza hut, (back in the early 90's) and left before the changes. Since they changed the recipe, I've NEVER BEEN BACK and will never go back. To put it frankly, their pizza SUCKS.

[@litemakr]

@@thekingofprotoss4376 its not lack of morality, it is rampant, uncontrolled corporate greed.

[@kungfury6410]

The old Pizza Hut restaurants were dark and had this sexy glow from the candles on the tables. They had video games. The pizza was hot and delicious. It was a magical experience, but now the restaurants are like every other sterile uninspired box.

[@MasterMayhem78]

Soda in those red plastic cups and multiple beers on tap...I remember it fondly. The dark atmosphere with the arcade is something you just don’t see anymore. I actually have considered opening my own pizza joint with this exact same feel. Maybe one day when the country stabilizes itself. Too much chaos and uncertainty right now to invest in anything.

[@juanitadudley4788]

Now, it just blends in. Nothing distinct. You can look at an old school Pizza Hut that has been repurposed into a laundry mat or whatever and know exactly what it used to be.

[@SusanChristmas]

Used to go there for date nights. loved the cavatelli and the salad bar was so good. The place was packed on weekends used to love to sit in the corner window seat.

[@chlebjohanaman8648]

Couldn't agree more. Pizza hut used to be the place to go after little league games and at the end of the season for trophies

[@CaboWabotv]

cocktail Pac-Man tables, pitchers of Pepsi, and those red plastic cups

[@Russmayra]

I was a General Manager for 14 years. They sold our region to NPC franchise group. It went straight to shit. They did not care for the Managers that had made Pizza Hut great. They got ride of them based on pure greed. I left on my own terms. Got my own Pizzeria doing it the right way now.

[@Game_Hero]

Good thing, mind some promotion for your restaurant so I know to go to it next time I pass through your town?

[@michellej7734]

Why wouldn't you say they name of your pizzeria, NOT TOO SMART ARE YOU???

[@Game_Hero]

@@michellej7734 hey, calm down

[@ВинниПух-ч4г]

@@michellej7734 why so upset

[@AlterMannCam]

@@michellej7734 Found the NPC Franchise group mole

[@kimsomniac2144]

I was a manager of a pizza hut delco in the late 90"s. The dough USED to be made fresh every morning. They switched to frozen dough to save money. It will never be the same.

[@cruxe2372]

Ya i was gonna say, he didn't really hit on taste but it def doesn't taste as good as it used to. That's #1 with any food spot. If you can't get taste right, nothing after that matters.

[@rickk3186]

Yo i was gonna say I remember going to pizza hut as a kid and they'd actually be throwing dough now its just some frozen crap

[@andrewgarcia3136]

I remember how it tasted before the frozen dough and it was so much better

[@pedaltraffic2239]

I worked there in 91 and remember the only frozen dough was bread sticks. I left and came back in 95 and the hand tossed was frozen. Like WTF? Hand tossed shouldn't be a frozen dough.

[@Kuhazan]

well that explains a lot... I had Pizza Hut recently because my usual pizza place was closed. It tasted nothing like I remember which is not effective at getting someone to return to being a customer. The customer service was great but that cannot change the product itself.

[@robadams2274]

Our local Pizza Hut closed down years ago and just last year, someone decided to open a new Pizza Hut in town. I noticed a lot of people talking about it on Facebook so they got some free advertisement and attention there, but after they opened, no one talked about it. One day recently I decided to stop by the new location to introduce Pizza Hut to my wife. I walked in hoping to see the Pizza Hut that we all loved when we were young, but it was just one of those delivery/carryout only places. We stood inside and looked around for a minute and decided to leave without ordering anything. I can buy frozen pizza in the grocery store. Pizza Hut was about the experience and they no longer offer that. I won't be back.

[@MrWolfSnack]

If you can buy frozen pizza in the grocery store then why do you care about Pizza Hut at all? You seem to have your mind set on thawing out shitty pizzas and thinking that's the pinnacle of food. Sit down restaurants started being phased out in 2013 because nobody leaves the house anymore.

[@scottishdude9682]

You seem to be stuck in nostalgia land. You’re old and not their target customer.

[@robadams2274]

@@scottishdude9682 judging by the state of their company compared to what it once was, they should consider trying something else. They lost their identity and are now just another mediocre carryout chain like Dominoes or Caesars. The soulless atmosphere and basic pizza won't appeal to many.

[@Lillytime1236]

Our old school Pizza Hut closed down almost ten years ago and was not replaced. We don't even have a carry out version. I took my kids to an out of state one, with the salad bar and the works. a girl came to the table with a spatula and plated every ones first slice... . It was pretty great. I still like and miss those pan pizzas.

[@robadams2274]

@@Lillytime1236 sounds like a nice experience!

[@bennewnham4497]

The missing part of the story is how the quality of ingredients declined rapidly, precut ingredients shipped in boxes, frozen and partially frozen premade dough was shipped in and it was 'cooked' by a team with minimal training and low pay causing massive employee turnover. This was all done to increase the profit for Pepsi at the expense of the customer. Eventually customers noticed and decided that Pizza Hut was not the place for them. Pizza Hut cut its own throat with short term decisions at the expense of the business.

[@danielhn93]

That sounds about right. I know Domino’s does that too. I wonder what would happen if Pizza Hut suddenly went back to hand-cutting fresh produce instead of pre-packaged crap and paid their employees more, or at least offered more free food so they don’t struggle with hunger. I would say bring back the dine-in too. For those establishments that were built small to only accommodate take-out or delivery, expand them or take back the old restaurant buildings. That was a key part of PH back on the day and it worked. Dominos doesn’t do that.

[@unclebounce1495]

absolute truth. pizza hut is a terrible place anymore with poor ingedients and massive fraudulent advertising. look at their pictures compared to any other pizza place. the elmer's glue is 3 inches thick and pouring off the slice like a waterfall. this is blatant fraud and can't even begin to be explained as "a presentation" of the real package. nope. it's not a creative presentation. it's fake. they should be sued for being fake in marketing and cheap in products.

[@unclebounce1495]

@Green Mamba Games yup.

[@draneym2003]

It's "Italian" food made by non Italians marketed to Midwest bumpkins who don't know any better. Just like how every other chain restaurant in this country "succeeds"

[@draneym2003]

@@danielhn93 They won't do it because Republicans don't want regulations, which is an open invitation for companies to pay garbage and blatantly false advertise

[@captainthrall]

I think you missed one of the biggest failings. Much like their sister yum branded restaurants, pizza hut changed their recipe/ingredients to save money. The resulting change in taste is very drastic. Pizza Hut used to taste freshly baked with real ingredients, because that's what it was. It was good! Now they've cheapened their ingredients while adding so many artificial flavors and preservatives it tastes like plastic. They don't even make half of the products on site anymore. Dough is shipped in frozen.

[@youchooby]

it is literally lower quality than freezer pizza now. they did the same thing to taco bell, it's pure trash now

[@kevenkokos1388]

That makes sense as to why todays PH is no comparison as it was in years past

[@aznnp77]

I think most places have a rule that there has to be at least 2 people working at the same time. But with low pay and morale, I imagine there are times where the second person calls out sick and leaves the 1 person hanging. When I worked retail they always scheduled adequately for Sunday, but if one person called out it would suck. When someone had to go on their lunch break you knew the long was going to get long and the customers would get angry.

[@dragonstryk7280]

@@aznnp77 Actually, the fact that if even 1 person calls out, it goes to hell, means they are not adequately staffing. Adequate staffing means having enough people to handle the handle, while being cognizant of the reality that it's likely that 1 or 2 people will call out.

[@lilitharam44]

Agree 100%! Then you add the over an hour delivery time, even in non peak hours, plus the fact that they are more expensive than Domino's and their staff are either rude or clueless and that cinches it.

[@GeorgeMonet]

Basically every failure comes down to: 1) cheapening the product 2) increasing the price 3) reducing customer service 4) failing to timely adapt to major persistent changes in consumer behavior and preferences 1 through 3 can be largely attributed to the business being bought out by someone who wants to get a return on their investment as soon as possible. 4 is pretty difficult.

[@sepg5084]

When i was a kid, my favorite food was basically pizza hut. I like going there for my birthday. Now, i associate them with low quality pizza.

[@Will_Moffett]

Is it really a failure though from the perspective of those who made the changes? By doing those things the executives can increase profits, get a nice bonus, then move on to the next company by the time the brand is downgraded.

[@martinlutherkingjr.5582]

They have to keep increasing the price in dollar terms though…inflation exists. $9.99 pizza in 1980 is about $40 in today’s dollars.

[@Galaxis.Genesis]

With options of UberEats, DoorDash... PizzaHut is seldom ever in my mind for delivery. Times have changed

[@siyiroancreint]

On 4... Families still like to go out and eat. Things change, but some things dont. They wanted to target a different market ao they could do 1-3

[@MegaPsycho84]

Pizza Hut in the 80’s was amazing. The smell, the arcades, the look, the taste, and the great service. It doesn’t even taste the same no more. You couldn’t really beat out Pizza Hut in the 80’s and early 90’s.

[@Robert-ki7bz]

I agree. Back then, the pizza had a reliably good taste.

[@AlphonseWeebay]

Omg Pizzahut in the 80’s and 90’s 🤤

[@squirrelsinjacket1804]

The future is in 3D printing your own Pizza. No company is really ready to innovate in this area tho.

[@Lesrevesdhiver]

We had one about 1/2 a block from our neighborhood. Yeah back then, it was THE place to be. Even had a juke box. Everything was just spot-on. I do not know how grown-ups felt but for us kids, it was a five-star dining experience.

[@Tommy88-]

I loved going to the buffet and playing some video games, and listening to the juke box.

[@rayray9996]

I think the primary reason for their decline is a decline in the quality of the pizza followed by ever increasing prices from early 90's to now. In a pizza business, quality and price are the key to success. All else comes next. I would say the third factor is delays in delivery and the limited geographic delivery areas (there are many "islands" in suburbs where no PH delivers to). If they improve quality, pricing, and delivery in that order, they will beat Dominos any day. If the top executives of PH can't improve these basic factors, they don't deserve to be in their jobs making millions in salaries.

[@Marcara081]

Yes! Quality is #1. I remember exactly when Pizza Hut, Pizza Pizza, Digorno (Delissio), and Domino's changed their recipes -precisely when they had enough brand recognition to rely on that rather than quality! I left every single one of them for it. Little Caesar's on the other hand, their deep dish stuffed crust brought me back to pizza chains exclusively. Once they start offering larger pizzas they can take the #2 spot.

[@drunken_masasura13]

They have delays in delivery cause no one wants to work for 7.25 an hour as a driver not to mention you don’t always know if you’ll get a tip. I did a 75$ order once and only received like 6$ for a tip for it to go 15 mins away from the store to be delivered

[@mikeappleget482]

Pizza Hut & Subway both went downhill at around the same time in my small town. IMO their downfall began when they got too greedy and started using cheaper & cheaper, crappy ingredients while simultaneously increasing the prices. Pizza Hut & Subway also suffer from worker morale (imo). Most Employees don’t stick around long and the ones there are undertrained and usually rude. I don’t expect the employees to be experts in their pizza & sub making craft and treat me like I’m royalty, but overpriced, sh*tty food served by aloof, rude employees is a disaster for attracting return customers. The employees at places like Starbucks, McDonalds, White Castle and Burger King are usually provide WAY better customer service.

[@wii166]

My dad always loves to talk about how they got rid of the 2 for 1 he said that was why in the 80's he went and took us their

[@GlennTillema]

@@mikeappleget482 "IMO their downfall began when they got too greedy and started using cheaper & cheaper, crappy ingredients while simultaneously increasing the prices." I swear this is the history of every modern food chain; they start with good, fresh ingredients then jack the prices up and move to frozen. I'm sure some executive saw this as a brilliant way to save money but it's a case of "save a penny lose a dollar" because people do notice and stop going. Case in point - We've stopped going to Applebees and Panera Bread because of this; the prices have gone up but the quality and quantity have gone down.

[@SenorTucano]

The reason for the decline is simple… the quality of the pizzas declined rapidly whilst prices went through the roof.

[@excaliber8713]

Their new recipes suck !

[@gregrowe1168]

Honestly pizza has pretty much stayed the same price for 20 years or longer. Look at other places like McDonald’s for instance. 20 years ago, a large burger like a Big Mac or quarter pounder was $2, now it’s over $4. I remember paying 99 cents for a whopper in the late 90s, now they’re $4 as well without buying 2 or more.

[@TraumaER]

@@gregrowe1168 not sure who eats at McDonald’s or any of the fast food chains anymore. You pay $10 for dog crap. They say poor people go to these places. I say that’s where you go to stay or become poor.

[@shawnaniganz9808]

Exactly. Pizza Hut has quite possibly the most expensive pizza prices out there and it tastes as bad if not worse than Little Caesar's at this point. The quality and price are at a huge disconnect.

[@raymonds.9021]

@@TraumaER When you're short on time and money its far too easy to spend $5 on a 1000 calorie meal while only waiting for 15 minutes or less. Besides the McDonalds is very likely closer than your local grocery store.

[@bencopeland3560]

Wouldn’t hurt my feelings if they canned the gimmicks and just got back to the classic model: pan pizza, gingham table cloths and all you can eat salad bar in a sit down restaurant. Oh, and if they could bring back the table top Pac Man, Donkey Kong and Galaga video game machines, that would be appreciated too!

[@deesnutz5576]

Thats what im sayin too👍. Bring back the oldschool pizza and oldschool arcade and can the gimmicks

[@chaoticutopia]

Don't forget those thick red plastic cups at the soda fountain, and the pebble ice machine.

[@kearneykarting]

@@chaoticutopia yup those red bumpy glasses were the best. Pepsi tasted so good out of those.

[@_warren6659]

Agreed. And maybe sponsor a little league team again while they’re at it.

[@mycitysucks8096]

Ha this makes me feel old 😂

[@skizm3459]

My sister and I used to get so many free personal pan pizza coupons from elementary school in the early - mid 90s for reading so many books. So we'd go down to Pizza Hut and sit down there and the pizza was amazing. I actually did enjoy the big foot pizza they had. I was always into those kind of stories and it was a huge pizza which I thought was awesome. Nothing like getting a big foot pizza and going home to watch "Unsolved Mysteries" or the show "Sightings" and hope to hear a story about Big Foot lol.

[@XiaoFury]

Unsolved Mysteries and Sightings...you hit me right in the nostalgia xD

[@Zapruderfilm1963]

I’m 55 years old. I remember going to eat at Pizza Hut all throughout the 80’s. It was usually on a Friday night. The atmosphere was extremely busy with tons of positive vibes coming out of both the dining room and the kitchen and front counter areas. As I write this I can smell the pizzas baking, the clanking of dishes and the laughter wafting through the air. This might seem odd to say but if I could put an entire experience of being a teenager in the U.S. in the eighties this pretty much sums it up. Oh how I miss you Pizza Hut of the past. 🍕😢

[@bludstone]

With the background noise of a ms pacman and spy hunter arcade machines.

[@annmariek5537]

Me, too! I have such great memories of going to PH with a big group of my high school friends after football and basketball games and dances.

[@agentofashcroft]

@@bludstone Same but Street Fighter 2 Turbo since I'm a bit younger

[@gregfullerton2196]

I’m nearly your age and a product of the 80’s. You hit the nail on the head with the Friday night Pizza Hut experience. Those giant red plastic goblets filled with ice cold Pepsi, the rattling of the pans, that sizzling pan pizza when they delivered it to you table, the sound of Foreigner playing on the jukebox in the background….wow. Then afterwards, racing home to catch Miami Vice on TV. We were kings!

[@physetermacrocephalus2209]

All of this sounds glorious. I'm envious.

[@Hemestal]

It's just mismanagement. Their food had a considerable drop in quality, but not in price. On the contrary, Dominos actually managed to improve their products and keep the accessible prices, which is impressive to say the least.

[@derrmann1800]

I agree also I love how dominos has the whole pizza insurance thing. When they take to long on your pizza they always give you a free one. I like that. Pizza Hut dont do that.

[@krudmonger]

THIS. Back in the day, Pizza Hut's pizza was superior to Domino's to the point where it was embarrassing to admit you'd gotten Domino's instead. Now, 15-20 years later, I will gladly admit to ordering Domino's, to the point of even encouraging people to give them another shot (if their opinion is based on their pizza circa 1992-2000.)

[@walterwhite1]

Dominos is my fav

[@walterwhite1]

Pizza Hut is straight trash 🗑

[@heretolevitateme]

The price is half of what it used to be in the 90s. So, counting inflation, that's a 75% decrease in price. This is one of the reasons they struggle.

[@jayman105]

Prices went up, quality went down. The big local Pizza Hut here just closed, and had been understaffed and in disrepair for many, many years. Sad to see a favourite chain from my childhood decline so badly.

[@Ilovegrunge123]

Also there stuff like alfredo noodles and the garlic bread knots, wings is better than there pizza. There called pizza hut but focus more on their appetizers. I also liked their sandwiches but they removed it.

[@Elhardt]

Had a friend who worked at Pizza Hut in the early 80's when in high school. Seemed like decent pizza. But about 10+ years ago a Pizza Hut near me was doing all you can eat lunch buffets. Tried it once and it was really lousy. Had to force myself to go back for seconds just to get my money's worth.

[@614supercool]

The two Pizza Huts in my town closed and the closest one to me went down the tubes years ago. Cheap pizza at a not so cheap price. No thanks.

[@JayMannStuff]

Yup. Prices going up, quality and topping amount dropped, the deals were worse. So I switched to Domino's and haven't even checked the Pizza Hut website for changes since 2016. Consumers these days have long memories and a penchant for vengeance.

[@jayman105]

@@Elhardt Yeah, I remember the lunch buffets. The quality wasn't that good at all, mainly because they were trying to get pizzas out quickly.

[@benjaminlebaron7128]

What amazing memories from the late 80s/early 90s as my family would go to the sit down PH restaurants. Piping hot pizza, that Pepsi in those red plastic cups, the sit down Pac Man Arcade game, the salad bar and birthdays celebrated there! It was a great time to be a kid. Thanks for the memories! 🫶🏻

[@benjaminrupe5930]

The problem stemmed from going from fresh to frozen. I worked as a prep cook/certified dough master for over five years. In that time specs were reduced twice. Smaller sizes and products were shipped to outlets frozen instead of made fresh daily. These factors reduced the quality of the menu. Eventually our local store was forced to close due to superior products from the competition. Sad, but not surprising.

[@ZhovtoBlakytniy]

It's so easy to make pizza dough, such a sad way to cut costs!

[@petercermak1910]

I whole heartedly agree. See my post above.

[@MalrickEQ2]

What competition though? You def can't be talking about Dominos or Little Ceaser lol.

[@benjaminrupe5930]

No, we have a local brick oven pizzeria called Pagliai's that was voted best Pizza in the state four years running. Admittedly, they're tough to beat.

[@mythiccdxx]

People ran out of money that's what happened. I used to like Pizza Hut until I couldn't afford it anymore.

[@kevinduke8928]

For me it’s not about the gimmicks. Pizza Hut used to taste WAY better! Their pan pizza was the best!I talked to a guy a while back that retired from Pizza Hut. I asked him why did the pizza taste better in the 90s and earlier, was I just imagining it or is it really different? He said it’s very different. To streamline things and cut down on costs and to be able to do their gimmicks (ie stuff crust). He said they no longer made the dough there but that it came in, premade and frozen. He also said the cheese and sauce were changed to fit the new direction. So for me it was 90% the taste changed. Couple that with no longer going to sit down at Pizza Hut and it pretty much added up to no longer being Pizza Hut, rather a whole new company and a whole new, subpar, pizza that just so happens to have the same name.

[@markwalker3499]

Yeah but at least they cost a lot more $$$$$.

[@OldAussieAds]

Did they think people wouldn't be able to tell? Maybe the average Joe doesn't care, considering how popular Dominos is.

[@MegaPsycho84]

I knew it wasn’t just me that had noticed that the taste quality of Pizza Hut went down quite a bit since the early 90’s.

[@Frankflexxxx]

Now it all makes sense. It did taste better decades ago. They need to use the old ingredients.

[@cecesmith6229]

Eating there in the restaurant with the salad bar was the best

[@BAMAJiPS]

I worked at Pizza Hut in the early 1990s - my job was to make all the fresh pizza dough every morning - mixing real ingredients, fresh... it used to be an actual quality product.

[@matthewthacker3683]

and then some of the locations had the all you can eat lunch buffet. As a teenager that was a favorite of mine

[@WizardOnAWhale7]

Did they still have Priazzo then or didn’t that survive the 80s?

[@BAMAJiPS]

@@WizardOnAWhale7 no - Priazzo was out by the mid-late 1980s... We did have the buffet. It was a wonderful, just out of highschool job. My best friend and I would go in every morning and make all the dough for all the pizzas for lunch buffet - fresh - while jamming the juke box - then we'd run the buffet and be off after lunch. "Any way you want it thats the way you need it..." Journey was a repeat jukebox song. My how times have changed. Pizza Hut used to be fun. I joined the Navy so I purposefully got fired by having my friend ladle pizza sauce all over me and serving a buffet pizza. I was such a rotten kid.

[@Utubesanarc]

Yea i got laid cuz of an old school pizza hut. Met my first there and even though it didnt go well i still blush when i see the place

[@Karm6061]

You sir were a dough master. Yes folks that was a real position.

[@gcfifthgear]

In the 1990s, my two daughters looked forward--and loved--the Personal Pan pizzas they got as part of that long-running book-reading program. And we loved to dine in at the Pizza Hut a few blocks from our home. Truth was when Pizza Hut closed that location--and the nearest sit-down location was 10 minutes from our home--we discovered Little Caesars, Domino's. and Papa Johns, not to mention a local chain that is known far from their home base of St. Louis for a distinctive pizza with a crisp cracker-like crust and square-cut slices. That local chain is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year and--frankly--is going stronger than ever before. It is our go-to pizza for my wife and me (the others will do for our grandchildren, but not our favorites)

[@robert4039]

Pizza Hut as a kid in the 80’s and 90’s was so good. I loved the atmosphere, the jukebox, the Arcade games, and the pizza was so fresh. That pan pizza!

[@stevenr8606]

Hence the word WAS

[@ammkr2757]

Video explained the first order reasons. The actual, second order reasons are that overall wealth and income levels of middle class has declined so much. Middle class is no more like it was in 80s/90s

[@carlacrawford9349]

Plain and simple. It just cost too much for what you get. Quality has gone down hill as well. Not worth it.😢😢😢 11:15

[@lokon1979]

Pizza Hut was fun, fun experience, even the crazy overly creative “pizza” ideas were simply true to themselves. Who cares that “pizzas” from Pizza Hut ain’t authentic? Then they seemingly tried to make their restaurants look more higher class, yet their food were still the same or even worse, with higher price. I remember the same item I used to order, I never expected it to be gourmet Italian dish but it was decent, now taste worse than some microwave meal from supermarket.

[@DivineScaleOfGod]

This map is insane

[@SerbAtheist]

When I lived in the US in the late 80s, Pizza Hut was like a gourmet dining experience and a memory I'm still genuinely fond of. The pizzas were sublime, plus you had the parm shakers on each table allowing a generous addition of parmesan to your liking. When I came back to college, it was downright unrecognizable. So much grease and oil! It was a sad reminder that sometimes the past can never be brought back to life.

[@benstanton3424]

Yes! You couldn't of said it better! It was a place for birthdays and study group get-togethers! Serb you have sparked something in my sense zone and it's been twenty-seven years since I smelt that! I even had a taste. Man it was 1994 the last time I really sat down in one. I was 16 and it was my birthday. My dad set it up and I showed up to fifteen people waiting for me! Such an amazing time to be alive! Now a days common sense and free speech are thrown out the window 😔. SerbAtheist thanks again for awakening a great time in my life🙏❤️🙂👊🦈

[@JinzoCrash]

@Sophilia ... ...Because common sense to not cheapen ingredients to the point of repulsion is a good idea? Pizza Hut, like free speech online, is waning.

[@JinzoCrash]

Similarly, i REALLY miss being able to smoke in a Dunk N Donuts. Everything's so... boring now.

[@raylopez99]

But some people like the oil, there's a whole sub-culture that likes the greasy oil that accumulates in pepperoni slices. Me? I don't eat much pizza, but had fun with a girl visiting Belgrade once where they sell roasted chestnuts in the street. Good times.

[@JinzoCrash]

@@raylopez99 Well dammit Ray, now it sounds like you had fun with a chick while utilizing pizza oil. My mind will be laughing at this all night at work.

[@ArkliteDC]

I'm kind of surprised you didn't mention this, but for me it's because of the pizza itself. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind the quality of their pizzas has been drastically reduced since I was a kid. Their pizzas for me are just so bland compared to what they were 10-15 years ago, imo.

[@hellagrant]

Possibly, probably, also your taste buds may have changed as well.

[@awesward4454]

indeed, goes for most things sadly

[@11sfr]

This is correct - they used to make their dough fresh on site, but switched to bringing in frozen pizza crusts, the quality definitely declined, and they did it just at the time when "fast casual" restaurants were coming on the scene and customers were starting to pay more attention to the quality of ingredients from fast food places. Cheaping on quality was never a good idea, but Pizza Hut did it at an especially bad time.

[@78bcat]

And it's true of all Yum brands....it's just Pizza is a far more competitive market. Taco Bell stands alone as Mexican Fast fast food (Chipotle is just fast). KFC is certainly being hit by Chick filet/Popeyes growth, but the Chicken wars are new. All the quality has plummeted under Yum and with so many pizza options from national like Dominos, to regional, to local...if you don't deliver quality, no branding is going to fix that. KFC will be next to falter again because of quality.

[@shaunlobsinger]

I’d agree with this, but as I’ve grown up, their pizza are just greasy and kind of gross. As a kid, you don’t mind but as an adult I want a pizza that does not seem deep fried 😜

[@holden6104]

The brand seems to have no standards anymore. There are two Pizza Huts near my house, and one of them is awesome while the other is so bad it's criminal. Does corporate even monitor their franchisees?

[@SamiLo2]

It’s simple: first they got rid of their seasoned pans, then they got rid of their fresh dough ( switching to frozen discs), then they got rid of some of their sauces and they also downsized their salad bar which was very popular in the earlier years. Then of course they changed their entire restaurant look when the old style was beloved making it more modern and less unique. And yes they totally switched to this delivery/carry out style which is awful. When ever I do order Pizza Hut it’s from one of the few original sit down restaurant locations that are still open because swear to god the pizza tastes so much better.

[@oscarvillarreal8951]

I think they also switched their buffalo wings.

[@omarqari296]

yo where can I find a list of their original sit-down restaurants, I’m interested!

[@soupcraft9768]

I suspected the crust was different! Nothing better than the Hut in the 90s. The crust was buttery and they gave you a free Nickelodeon magazine.

[@Dtales]

I know we're never getting salad bars back, but I feel like it was understated, what a loss that was. 😔

[@abelmontalvo4052]

And nowadays you can only get pizza from Pizza hut if you do it online everything is online

[@phillipstephens4522]

They priced themselves out of my price range. When we first started ordering the large supreme it was $10, and now it's closer to $30. Now why pay $30 for a supreme pizza when you can go to Walmart and buy a large supreme for around $10? Also I am 71 years old and on a fixed income. Just can't afford Pizza Hut anymore!!

[@yeollierancher]

I understand you 100%! Where I live, a family lasagna was $20 5 years ago, then it raised to $22, which is understandable… but I ordered some weeks ago and it was almost $30 😭 Maybe it’s a sign to just make it myself at home.

[@krystyna89lopez]

Yea its shitty product at an expensive price. They're greedy mfs

[@56BIGM]

i bought a large pizza the other day--took it home, and threw away all but two slices i ani't one to waste food --don't like papa murphy's either--what' a good one? somebody mentioned ken's the other day {east texas) i'll give it a try again--it's been years----anybody remember shakey's?

[@SSTVdd]

You’re 71 how’d you figure out how to use KZbin ol’ Philly?

[@juanbaggins]

Pizza Hut has always been more costly than its competitors. The difference is in the 80s and 90s the quality was better, the service was better, so the value was better. That and incomes were higher.

[@willbetts]

Used to work at a Pizza Hut during highschool. Here are things I noticed: employee retention was very low. 10 total people were employed at my location at any given time and I had seen around 20 different people join and quit in under a year. Pay was only $2 higher than the state minimum wage. The regional supervisors were not personable and didn't really care about you, unless you were the restaurant manager. It also led me to discover that massive pay gaps existed. All of the ingredients were very cheap, came premade and frozen in boxes. The company forgot about things like work culture, authenticity, and customer satisfaction because they were so focused on reducing costs and making money.

[@koyjosh94]

This right here is very true! I worked at pizza Hut for about 6 months in 2018 as a driver. The place was being held together by one over worked Manger ( who basically lived there I never saw the poor dude take a day off except maybe once or twice). Also after seeing how pizza Hut made the pizzas I haven't eaten there since then.

[@TheBigLlamaShow]

Sadly this is the downfall of a lot of good companies… profits over service.

[@stage52]

I currently work at a Pizza Hut and none of this has changed. I like it because delivering is a pretty good gig for a college student and I like a lot of my coworkers. Employee turnover is absolutely incredibly high. I've worked there for almost a year now and I'm about the 3rd/4th longest tenured person still there, and we usually keep 15-20 people on staff. My managers who work extremely hard barely make above starting pay. Dough comes in frozen little discs, ingredients come in white bags. Regional Manger/owner/whoever jerks our main managers around, we've gone through 5 since I've started. Despite that, we somehow have a pretty successful location. I put that on 2/3 higher up employees who every respects and works incredibly hard.

[@stage52]

@@koyjosh94 This! My store does great because we had one manager work 40 straight days this summer and did everything. Now we still have two very good managers working at least 6 days a week keeping things going well.

[@MattC78]

I worked at pizza hut for a few years too, and quit because of poor pay, and questionable management. Then after I quit I got a check in the mail compensating my pay because they were not paying us right for deliveries. They got sued.

[@Marty4650]

It isn't about menu items, or logos. It is 100% about reducing food quality, increasing prices, and having better alternatives competing against them. They need to go back to doing the basics right, or risk becoming the Sears of the pizza industry.

[@isntimportant]

Right. But in the 90's a pizza was about $40 where I live, now they're $6.50 on tight arse tuesdays. That's 1/8th the price nearly. Would you say the taste / quality has reduced to 1/8th? I would say it's reduced by maybe 10-20% at best. We couldn't afford to eat at pizza hut, pizza was a rich persons game back in the 90's. Maybe Christmas, or a birthday! Now you could eat it every day and not go broke!

[@Optim40]

@@isntimportant But its garbage. The pizza hut nowadays doesn't even compare to the pizza hut from back in the day. You can get better pizza than pizza hut and not go broke also.

[@too9593]

Yes I ordered them a. Couple weeks ago .pizza was sooo bland no flavor was awful. I prefer Domino's now at least the have some flavor.

[@xx_theartfuldodger_xx1105]

I agree, but when a place like Dominos is excelling while having pizza that tastes like tomato sauce on cardboard, it can make one wonder.

[@tinkdnuos]

@@isntimportant you've repeated this obvious lie several times in the comments here. Nowhere in the USA (except MAYBE the Aleutians or something lol) was a pizza hut pizza $40 in the 90s. Just stop.

[@KingOfMadCows]

Anecdotally, Pizza Hut's quality seems to have declined while Domino's quality has increased. I remember 10 years ago, Domino's pizza tasted like cardboard, but now it's not bad. The opposite seems to have happened to Pizza Hut. The last time I had Pizza Hut, the dough wasn't even fully cooked.

[@Dj.D25]

I remember Pizza Hut's pan pizzas tasted amazing in my childhood. Over a decade ago, I ate them again after not eating one in so long and it didn't taste as amazing. I've noticed Dominos pizza has improved as well.

[@thebestcentaur]

I worked briefly for Domino's (do not recommend) and I totally get this. That's just one factor as to why I stick with them now despite the former

[@endokuken1678]

My mom used to call Dominos, "cardboard and ketchup". Now, while not the best, it's miles better than the Pizza Hut of today

[@piratestation69]

What does your toilet look like after eating Domino's... I need a F5 Hurricane to get rid of the smell.

[@vaelophisnyx9873]

@@piratestation69 you should...probably report your local store(s) for health inspection, sounds like contaminated food

[@GoddessSixx]

Their pizza is subpar these days. They charge too much for too little, and the ingredients are just awful.

[@KrishnaDasLessons]

Yeah their pizza is overpriced now.

[@Dj.D25]

Agree. I remember their pan pizza being amazing and addictive during the 90s. The last time I had their pan pizza over a decade ago or so after not having it in some time, something about the taste felt off. The crust I loved growing up didn't taste as good.

[@Vladimir-hq1ne]

@@KrishnaDasLessons Not so much overpriced but under-tasting...

[@skip081961]

I remember in the 70's I would order a pizza for carryout and they would place the cooked pie in an oversized paper bag; grab the center of the bag, pull it straight up to create a tent and serve it. Also I miss their buffets in the 80's where my family could eat cheaply (I was a struggling college student). However I hated to see the waste from people leaving tons of their crusts. Edited for additional comments: My favorite memory was as a highschooler, walking to our nearest Pizza Hut, ordering a small pepperoni pizza on Friday night and eating it while watching "Friday Night Frights" on WTCG-TV, Channel 17 (UHF) in my hometown, Georgia, which is now known as TBS. Also, I do miss the dining-in at their restaurants.

[@paulweston9358]

Back in the 80s, Pizza Hit was king and they had their own dough mixers in every store. Then they switched to cheaper, frozen dough. The taste suffered immensely. The declined taste and lousy employees (in my area anyway) made me give up on Pizza Hut years ago.

[@frescoservice5124]

It was around 2008 or so that their pizzas started to suck.

[@brendanberto-jones3352]

Honestly we can't afford the labor go use anything other than disks

[@jeremyevans9521]

@@frescoservice5124 I think you are right, I remember them being good up to the early two thousands.

[@mikeappleget482]

This is about Pizza HUT. Pizza Hit went downhill in the 1960s.

[@frescoservice5124]

Then I got into fitness and stopped eating pizza so I don’t know which one is the best right now. Can you tell me what is you y’alls Favorite?

[@mmmmmduffbeer]

Pizza hut was my go to for the first 25 years of my life, but sometime in the early 2010s I think they changed an oil associated with their crust. The flavor of the grease started to have an artificial flavor that reminds me of imitation butter in store bought biscuit canisters. My pizzas were never soggy, but the crust has a bad flavor on the top and bottom. Someone mentioned in another comment that pizza hut went from making crust in the restaurant to using refrigerated crusts. That makes sense to me and I think that the flavor I don't like is whatever they put on the pan to make it non-stick seeping into the preprepared crust.

[@BeingShari]

The fresh crusts were so much better

[@Biospark88]

That would be around the time they went trans fat free, maybe you were tasting the non-TF oil. When you cut out the trans fats, you trade quality and flavor for better health.

[@mrgtoyz]

I definitely noticed this as well. Those little pan pizzas I got for reading were amazing. Last time I had Pizza Hut I was so disgusted and disappointed I knew something had changed I just never knew exactly what it was. Luckily enough where I live there's plenty of other good pizza options besides the national chains.

[@Biospark88]

@@mrgtoyz I don't think I've had Pizza Hut since the mid 2000s. I always associated them with gross, hyperprocessed, fast food pizza and preferred artisanal pizza chains like Blaze.

[@tonyanthony5105]

Pizza Hut has been using straight Frozen Crusts for years now, and as of at least a few years ago Domino’s got all of its dough sent in already made up in to Dough Balls that were never frozen, only refrigerated

[@JL-ef7bh]

The biggest problem with large chain restaurants is that they're run by businessmen. Not chefs, or food enthusiasts. They have absolutely no idea on what it takes to be a proper restaurant. They too obsessed with numbers. Even if the court of public opinion is bad, they can shrug it off and say "the investors are happy". People have realised this and moved on to smaller scale restaurants owned and ran by people who understood dining and food.

[@kryshalis]

Agreed. I'll take a regional restaurant or one with only one location over any corporate restaurant any day of the week. There is too much emphasis on cutting overhead and uniformity amongst locations with corporate food. The quality almost always suffers.

[@GDnewbie]

:/

[@JL-ef7bh]

@@kryshalis agreed. The market is starting to shift from F&B establishments to privately owned small scale establishments when it comes to restaurant dining. When people dine in, they expect quality. The business approach we often see is always the same framework of that of a fast food chain. Which should never be the case. Good food, cannot be rushed.

[@kodeystockton1124]

As a cook who's spent a lot of time in corporate restaurants, I agree. Some of the places I've worked at would rather send people home during busy hours to cut costs, because corporate told them they have a "limit" to labor spending. What a ridiculous idea, to sacrifice quality for a few bucks. Many once delicious chains are now garbage for this reason. One of the chains I used to work at was Joe's Crab Shack. When I was a kid, we used to go to the Shack over the Sacramento River once a year and I have very find memories of it. I was so excited when I, as an adult, had the opportunity to work at one. It took me too long to realize that they stopped caring about good food at some point. Obviously the point of a business is to make money, but without passion, a restaurant is doomed to fail. After working there for only 9 months, I will never eat at a Joe's again, and have advised my family to do the same. In fact, the one I worked at near where I live right now just announced they will be permanently closing in a few days. Good riddance. It shows how out of touch these corporations are with the very product that keeps them afloat: food. The (former) customers have spoken, and thus they decline.

[@mubarak3457]

Yes but Dominos pizza is the same , it’s more like high tech company with their App …

[@christopherangeli8847]

This is what happens when a corporation cuts back on quality and value and think no one will notice.

[@bradr.865]

Back in the day, my friends and I called Dominos Pizza a "Dominos Death Disc" because of how bad it was. The problem for Pizza Hut is that Dominos improved DRASTICALLY, while Pizza Hut's quality has been stagnant or gotten worse.

[@JuwanBuchanan]

Couldn't have happened to a better pizza brand. #Dominos4life #LastLaugh

[@mykemech]

I remember that Dominos made an extensive study of customer experiences and learned that they had a reputation for cheap ingredients, bland taste. They took this info and adapted, as well as advertising the fact, and subsequently took off. I remember specifically finding them much much better then, and still today.

[@EpicGabby24]

I completely agree!! When I was younger, I hated Dominos and loved Pizza Hut. Every Friday was pizza day and the family would always get Pizza Hut but around 2012 it got insanely gross to me that I'd actually throw up. It was weird going from eating it every week to not even understanding what I'm tasting or consuming lmao they changed so much. Finally got Dominos and it was way different in 2015 compared to 2008

[@jenniferbayarea5748]

Hmmm this unlocked a memory in my mind that as a child I hated dominos like I would not eat it. And what kid doesn’t want pizza ya know ? But I remember the smell is what had me not want to eat it and the taste.

[@seventh-hydra]

For real. How bad Domino's used to be is burned into my brain, I'll never forget the flavorless plastic poorly melted atop toasted cardboard. Now they're so much better it isn't even funny. Pizza Hut briefly won me back once they started introducing a lot of interesting toppings, crust flavors etc. But now those aren't a thing anymore.

[@MIchaelMiii]

Last time I got Pizza Hut I paid $20 for a medium 3 topping pizza. One of the toppings was sliced green olives. I was lucky to have 4 bits of green olives on a slice. The Pepperoni was cut razor thin and the cheese didnt cover the bread at places. The pizza was worth $9 not $20. I will never go there again.

[@jonathanLToronto]

And everybody know pizzas are cheap to make. You could have bought a stake sandwich with $20.

[@runrafarunthebestintheworld]

@Logan McGlynn Yeah Little Caesar's has the Pan Pizza with Bacon around it. That is so good. 😛

[@RyanJurden]

I worked for Pizza Hut for 15 years. I can tell you that it was the innovation in the early to mid 2000s that started the stagnation of the brand. We would advertise new specialty products relentlessly. However, they were only available for limited time. Therefore, we trained our customers that special pizzas were only available when they were being advertised on TV and in print. This translated to customers not calling when their favorite pizza wasn't being advertised. A great example is the Stuffed Crust pizza which was available every day, year round. We would put it on sale for 25 cents off normal price ($11.99 vs $12.24) and people went crazy for it. Sold a hundred or more every single day. When the sale ended, demand for the Stuffed Crust would plummet to 20 or so a day. Customers stopped calling when their favorite pizza was not being advertised, even though we still had it and it was available every day for just 25 cents more.

[@dennisp8520]

Bigger problem is that Pizza has too many choices, some of which are very gimmicky. So as someone who hasn’t ordered there in a long long time I never think of them for something unique to them. They kinda just melt into a it’s a pizza place vs say a Papa Johns with their garlic butter that is addictive

[@chrisolivo6591]

Stuffed Crust Pizza was brilliant marketing. Loved it!

[@gracerodriguez2200]

I was just remembering how you used to be able to dine in and they had some sort of salad/Pizza bar, and was wondering if that was still a thing. I got my answer in this video, thanks Company Man. I wish you could still dine in

[@jameswoods4470]

Our Pizza Hut in Pennsylvania still has dine in

[@aarons8421]

I think the third most likely reason for the decline was terrible service. Employees were stretched too thin to save money, and the ones that didn't quit were just constantly overwhelmed.

[@jrescobar6678]

This was in big part because the majority of the Pizza huts before the 2000s were on by the company themselves. After that they sold all but 10% of their units to franchises that were only concerned with profits.

[@williamford9564]

@@jrescobar6678 I am not sure I agree with your reasoning. Most franchise companies and I am sure Pizza Hut is among this group, have horribly one sided agreements with their franchisees. The franchisees pay above market rents on company owned buildings that they lease, exorbitant advertising royalties and other fees that make it extremely hard to earn a reasonable profit.The franchise company Pizza Hut gets it's money no matter what and the franchisee is left scrambling for crumbs and therefore has to skimp on things like sufficient labor to provide good service to their customers. It is the FRANCHISE COMPANY that is concerned with and earning "exorbitant" profits, not the franchisees. That is why Pizza Hut and others like McDonalds shifted to a majority franchisee operated model over company owned stores. The risk is shifted totally on the franchisees.

[@jrescobar6678]

@@williamford9564 I definitely agree with you on PHI's fault in the matter but I can't absolve the franchise owners that went in a bad contracts and ruined established manger groups and customer bases. They made a poor purchases and if no one bought these bad contracts than PHI would have held them or sold them for cheaper.

[@alexwolfeboy]

As somebody working at a PizzaHut right now, you are on point.

[@vanessaa.3942]

I was an assistant manager from 2007 to 2011 this statement is accurate.

[@JoseMartinez-on1rx]

Back in the early 2000’s Pizza Hut was supreme, but around 2003ish our local Pizza Hut switched from making dough from scratch, and went to frozen dough “patties” that are proofed in in a warm setting. I only know this because I worked there at the time. The taste was noticeable, and in my belief, it was all downhill from there.

[@Evian1990]

Yep, my first job was a pizza cook at the hut. We stopped making the dough and started using those pucks, and people noticed. We went from being slammed on Fri and sat nights, to sometimes closing early. It seemed corporate started to get more and more involved as well and kind of handcuffed the genetal manager. The final straw was when the got rid of the lunch buffet.

[@FSboy70]

There are just some things that you shouldn't industrialize, fresh food is one of them.

[@davidwittenberg981]

They really do taste like shit now. I have not been there in over 10 years. good riddance

[@nuruddinshah684]

@@Evian1990 NO WONDER WHY I KNOW THE PIZZA WAS "BAD" So can tell me story on mushroom soup. I KNOW IT TASTE BETTER THEN whatever there doing now

[@Evian1990]

@@nuruddinshah684 we didn't have that soup when I worked there

[@Tanyableu]

The flavor changed. The dough changed. When I was little, a slice in the fridge overnight still tasted like awesome pizza. Last time I got it, it was cold dough. I miss them much and hope they return

[@SamiLo2]

Yea in later 2005/early 2006 they switched from fresh dough to frozen discs. And they later changed their sauces as well 2010

[@Blankclz]

I knew it when i was a kid Pizza Hut was the best always ate it,i did the same thing i left it overnight just to eat it the next day i swear i thought it tasted just as good or better. I bought it recently and it did not taste the same honestly very disappointed im just a Dominos man now and its cheaper too

[@peterpalermo2542]

I remember as a kid, there was no cardboard box for carry-out. Pizza came in paper teepee, stapled at the top. I remember that smell to this day.

[@Tequliah]

i ordered pizza hut the other day and it was fresh but it had no flavor, the wings were okay but not what i thought i would get for the money i spent for them.

[@abelmontalvo4052]

If you want to eat something that hasn't changed eat a triple meat Whataburger with cheese in Texas

[@kunkmiceter]

I remember in the 80's their pizza had so much cheese there was never a need to order extra. Now it's a must to order extra cheese and it's still not that much.

[@johnnymiller6230]

You have to order extra sauce too. The sauce is where the flavor comes from. They barely put any on like it costs more than printer ink.

[@geerstyresoil3136]

The problem wasn't the menu, it was the ambiance. It started to feel less like a sit down restaurant and more like a fast food joint. Bring back the dark lighting, the terrific salad bar, the sit down video game consoles. Bring back that family friendly atmosphere.

[@TheMoeP]

I think it's pizza itself and the way people look at pizza places, when was the last time you sat down at a restaurant (that it's not italian) to eat one? for me it's been over 6 years and it was indeed at a Pizza Hut in Quebec during a trip with my family. When people think pizza nowadays it's fast food that they'd rather have at home delivered or picked up. If it isn't like an iconic local restaurant of like a legit italian place almost no one will go. Pizza Hut here in Toronto has been slowly losing declining and it's that issue of having big locations to sit down instead of just small pickup location. Another reason is pricing, too expensive and the quality is not as good as it used to, I still love Pizza Hut but with cheaper options in the city it's no stranger why I see less and less of them

[@theplayersclub1126]

oh man, the old sit down video games....perfection!!!!!

[@Poracheapa]

THIS!!!! I have a pizza hut near me and it's literally just a few chairs and tables for the sitting down area. Feels like your average copy paste fast food restaurant now. It just feels like the restaurant is saying "Get the food and get out" to you I remember what it was like before... Good times....

[@jazzygirl987]

I worked at a pizza hut for 5 years around 2016/2020. During that time they switched their focus and wanted to be a place like newer domino stores. No servers, but there's still a sit down area. So all the newer stores they were opening followed that plan and they began slowly cutting back at older stores. It's was really sad.

[@awesward4454]

agreed

[@pupsterX]

Pizza Hut's ingredients have gone so far downhill to the point it's not even edible anymore .I remember when Dominos made a commercial where they openly admitted their pizza sucked and posted reviews from their customers saying so. They said they heard, and have changed their ingredients and asked customers to try Dominos again. It worked. Pizza Hut could learn something from this. Or as Papa John's logo said "Better ingredients make better pizza"

[@ahallock]

I tried Dominos about a year ago here in Cleveland. Frozen pizza is better lol. I couldn't even finish a slice it was so foul. Went straight into the trash.

[@Justme0528]

@@ahallock it could be delicious if they didn't have a bunch of young thugs working at my local dominos. It's always overcooked and cold and they mess up every single order. They don't take anything seriously so they take a mediocre food and make it so bad that it never gets fully eaten.

[@Pugetwitch]

@@Justme0528 "thugs", I'm sure. LOL sounds like you're just scared of youth. Are you sure your name isn't Karen?

[@Pugetwitch]

@@Justme0528 I grew up in the streets with real thugs in the streets - and I can guarantee you right now none of them would work at a pizza hut. Get the f*** out of here.

[@atomiccottoncandy4161]

@@Pugetwitch grew up in the street's who the f would say that other then 15 year olds sound like some crap marky mark and v ice would say back in the day lmao

[@lando1071]

I was a huge pizza hut fan. As a kid my parents would take my sister and I there. My experience, and why I moved away from it, was a steady decline in quality (both food and restaurant) and customer service. Sad.

[@farrex0]

Yeah, what did it for me, was that I once ordered a pizza with extra cheese, and it had so little cheese and sauce it tasted like plain bread. There were some spots where you could see no cheese at all and even some where you could even see the bread. When i complained, because i ordered it with extra cheese, they said it looked right. And then I started looking at everyone else's pizzas and they looked so sad, with very little cheese and toppings. I have never eaten any pizza hut ever since.

[@Erikamo206]

I agree. They used to be the best pizza by far, exceptional buttery crust. Lately, the pizza is average at best. Every time I have tried them over the last 4 years, I have been disappointed. I think the problem is quality.

[@JohnRoberts-wk6rf]

When I was at UNC-Chapel Hill Business School in the early 2010's, I ate at a Pizza Hut and got violently ill from what the doctors called a bacterial infection. Used to be a regular customer, but I have not eaten there since then.

[@showingsoftwarebugs5963]

I noticed their prices have nearly doubled in the last year. I used to spend $21 for 2 mediums. Now I'm spending $38 for 2 mediums. It's been a major deterrent for me.

[@integrags1]

They send coupons in the mail every week

[@Sentinel_ICBM]

Same. They wanted 48$ for a stuffed crust pizza delivered here in PA a few weeks ago after the delivery fees and all the extra stuff added. I cancelled the order and went to Dominoes.

[@pahlevymu]

Same here, when Dominos came to my city it offered much cheaper than Pizza Hut. No wonder people move away from them

[@meritamity]

They've been milking the Pizza Hut brand for all it's worth for the past 20 years.

[@youtubecomments5951]

@@Sentinel_ICBMthat’s probably because you ordered through ubereats or grubhub or

[@2006gtobob]

I worked for Pizza Hut for nearly 2.5 years, 1988-1990 while attending high school. That was, by far, the most fun job I have ever had. Quality of the food and customer service really mattered. We made all of the dough every morning before the restaurant opened. We also mixed all of the varieties of sauce by hand, every day as needed. Yeah, it was all premixed, but how it was handled is what counted. We hand chopped a lot of the vegetables, too. If you were a details oriented person and you loved pizza, it was a great place. After I left high school and subsequently left Pizza Hut I kept in touch and found out that quality control was removed from the stores. All of the dough came from an outside contractor/bakery. All of the vegetables came pre chopped and in plastic bags. Quality was consistent, but it went down hill overall, in my opinion. Due to the handmade nature of the business during my time, maybe quality actually went up for some of the restaurants, who knows anymore? The people employed there went from being pizza makers to pizza "assemblers" and a lot of soul went out of the process. To me, it was always about the quality.

[@neaxus06]

They pretty much lost me as a customer when they started charging an extra dollar or two for extra cheese, even if it was the only topping on their 3-topping large special. They also started charging $2 more for their pan pizza crust. When I order from Pizza Hut I feel like I am nickled and dimed. I'll order from Dominos or Papa John's before ordering from Pizza Hut, every time.

[@truelife974]

Gosh, you literally nailed all of my reasons for turning away. I would just like to add, as if all you stated wasn't enough, the delivery fee that is added to a pizza order that will 9 times out of 10 not be of good quality once it arrives.

[@movieaire1439]

Don’t forget the charge for crushed peppers… freaking crushed peppers.

[@matty6848]

Yeh same here. I rarely go to Pizza Hut now as I find Papa Johns cheaper and their pizzas taste way better to the crap Pizza Hut serve today, plus all the extra charges on top for extra cheese, extra pepperoni it’s just a rip off!

[@TBLx15]

Soo much this, 3 topping pizza deal, but extra chz doesnt count as a topping. Total BS

[@jd5179]

yeah, remember getting excited getting pizza using newspaper coupon- ended up paying more because of these bs add ons there werent included. i stopped buying pizzas from them .

[@TotemoGaijin]

In the 80s and 90s it felt like Pizza Hut gradually took over the market, beating out Dominos and Little Caesars to the point where they felt practically non existent in the 2000s or so. Then Papa John's came along, Pizza Hut got worse, and Dominos and Little Casears went through a bit of a resurgence.

[@jrescobar6678]

I was a general manager and an Area Coach for 23 years with the Hut. Internally we saw a lot of change around the mid 2000's when PHI sold the majority of their company own and operated stores to franchisees including investment firms that only cared about profit margins and ROI for their purchases. Previously PHI held majority ownership outside of small rual markets. This was all during the time that they were trying to establish delco's as their new restaurant style. The new takeover franchise owners were trying to run low labor margins which resulted in slow delivery, which resulted in low tips for drivers, which resulted in lower driver staffing. It was just a big vicious circle... Domino was so much faster because they gave their stores the necessary resources to deliver fast. This resulted in much better tips for Domino drivers. I left after the second ownership change and it was more of the same.. Glad I left them and now I'm with one of the fastest growing concepts, Crumbl Cookies.

[@jnb756]

in 1999 I got a job as an assistant manager for Domino's - the drivers made a LOT more money than I did. The whole store was set up to get the drivers in, their hot bags filled and out the door in no time. Worst job ever - lasted two weeks and went into technical support for the Y2K bug that we escaped from pretty much unscathed

[@liloreoinya]

Thanks for the insight. For real the Hut hit different in the 80s and 90s. Cool to get a first hand account of what happened.

[@vicentee2687]

always wanted to know what hapoend to them they were the shyt when I was a kid noone even thought of another pizza place to eat at but the hut

[@k3iler05]

I love crumbl cookies. Although a bit expensive!

[@Onoitsbroko]

I'm actually on my way to Crumbl now to try the lemon and christmas cookie flavors this week 😅

[@SteveDamaske]

Former employee/manager from a carryout/dine-in location in the early-mid 90's -- I 100% believe their decline started when they switched to using frozen dough that proofed over night as it thawed. That was fine for the personal pans and all, but when they moved it on to the hand tossed and now pan, quality is horrible. Might have been great to keep the waste and labor down, but when you start to loose your customer base, might want to shift that back.

[@zman8948]

I work at Pizza Hut. Shits nasty because of the frozen dough.

[@alkeenan7906]

It was the new gluten free dough

[@benjismith593]

I remember those frozen disks quite well. Plus toppings in bags. Even the veggies.

[@nutsackmania]

this is correct, and it's unbelievable that videos about the decline of pizza hut completely fail to do any actual reporting. it's just like an exercise in editing b roll footage to a paraphrased wikipedia section

[@LowkeyRmc]

They do the same at the Pizza Hut targets I thought cause it was a smaller kitchen they did frozen in those big ass 48 boxes

[@jo1580]

So sad. As a child, I loved Pizza Hut in the 70s and 80s. Their pizza had a pizzeria taste and smell. The only downside was that it took a while for your order to be (freshly) made. When they started taking steps to cut corners and speed up the process, their pizza no longer tasted like quality pizza to me. R.I.P. Pizza Hut; I've only ordered from local pizzerias for many years now.

[@ScrotieJohnson]

The ship their dough in now frozen.

[@gst013]

I get you, but that's actually awesome. Supporting local businesses over a giant corporation is always a good thing.

[@CoachTabe]

This is exactly the right answer. In the 70s and 80s, the pizza was high quality and had that special taste and smell you mentioned. Then they changed everything that made them unique and great.

[@pokiblue5870]

Yea local pizzerias that has 1 restaurant or 3 are so much better than domino,pizza hut, papa john.

[@workingshlub8861]

back then then pan was great....now its maybye one step above a frozen digiorno....sad

[@kidsIIIII009]

The 2014-2019 Pizza Hut logo is still being used internationally. It’s just that the logo in 1974-1999 that returned in 2019 is exclusive to the US

[@scottgrohs5940]

Pizza Hut was a chain I’d eat at as a kid. As an adult I found each location really varied in quality: some tasted like Little Cesar’s while others resembled Italian restaurant quality. Because this was so, I avoid them and just pay basically the same price for a local place that’s been in business for sixty years.

[@itsnotthesamething]

I actually think Little Cesar's tastes much better than Pizza Hut now. Pizza Hut and Dominos are both gross now.

[@American-Motors-Corporation]

@@itsnotthesamething Well I will say that out of the late '80s and early 90s I can remember Little Caesars being super good!

[@JuniperMoonshine]

I’m inclined to agree. My husband and I talk about how Pizza Hut tasted better as children.

[@thatamericangamer7230]

@@JuniperMoonshine another thing could be taste buds but likely low

[@choronos]

​@@itsnotthesamething Pizza Hut and Dominos have definitely declined in ingredient quality in the last 20 years. But the biggest problem for me in all of the locations I've visited in the last 10 years or so is that the pizzas aren't cooked all the way through and are disgustingly doughy. I don't know for sure what their set up is in the kitchen, but I imagine it's a conveyor belt type oven that can cook a large volume of pizzas in a short time. Either the employees aren't using the proper settings, or the oven isn't getting hot enough because they're shoving too many pizzas through. Either way, the company is obviously cutting corners on training employees and maintaining equipment. The other main issue is that Dominos and Pizza Hut clearly use pre-shredded cheese, which is dusted with cellulose so it doesn't clump and negatively affects how the cheese melts.

[@baronvg]

I was actually working at Pizza Hut when that “flavor of now” garbage started. I hated it. It was already difficult to do orders and get them out in a timely manner and then they overhaul EVERYTHING and change what our regular customers were used to and expected to get better results?! I knew and HOPED it would fail miserably. You wanna know what always worked and always got business??? Low prices!!! When Pizza Hut was doing that $10 any toppings deal, we couldn’t STOP working. It was order after order after order. Doesn’t matter the food, the service, etc if something is cheap, (mostly) no one cares about anything else and will give you their business.

[@pyrokatarina]

which is why dominos is on the rise, their pizzas are cheaper than pizza huts, and on top of that they are just better

[@ThePainlessGamer]

@@pyrokatarina and why little Cesar’s was always a good option, I think it’s safe to say that anyone can afford a 5 dollar pizza once in a while even if it’s not that great a pizza for 5 dollars has always been a decent deal

[@ebogar42]

True. I go to a $50 whore. I'm not paying $300 for a good quality one.

[@Ultra_64]

Bro I remember that for like a week or so they had that deal for a $10 large custom but it was $5 instead and my dad bought 4 of them. First and only time I've eaten an entire pizza in one sitting. I felt so sick afterwards.

[@rathelmmc3194]

Interesting because I stopped going to Pizza Hut because the pizzas are just mediocre and I’d rather pay a couple bucks more and get really good pizza from a local place. If you’re going to race to the bottom you better be sure you’re the cheapest and Pizza Hut is not.

[@tyharris9994]

The most important aspect of the pizza business is the actual product and that starts with the dough. I worked at Pizza Hut as a teen and I can remember actually making that pan dough from scratch in big ol' mixer with a giant metal hook. It was time and labor consuming and then it had to proof and rise for hours but the result was glorious. I know that frozen dough from a central production location is more efficient but if they want to come back they should start there. Perhaps they could automate the process in the stores for more labor effficiency.

[@bass9351]

Ye bro i worked at pizza hut wen i was 13-17 yrs old with my brother in the 90s in Sydney and making the pan dough from scratch in the big metal mixer bowl with the 10kg flour was annoying but the result was beautiful fresh dough compared to 2day its unrecognizable and disgusting. Dont forget the thin crust with the huge cup of oil but it was tasty. We dont even here bout pizza hut anymore

[@11GrindTime11]

I worked there when they made the change from fresh pan dough to frozen. I noticed the taste change immediately. Freshly made dough was so much better. 1-10, 10 being the best, the dough literally went from a 10 rating to a 5 rating in a single day.

[@Kissfan96dr]

water temperature 105F not a degree more or less.

[@greg1503]

I remember eating at Pizza Hut's in the 80s. The deep dish pizzas were Soooo damn good !! 🔥💯 So tasty ..The crust was awesome ! I asked my girlfriend at the time...How do they make these pizzas taste so good ?? Jokingly she said I think they deep fry them ! 🤣

[@greg1503]

Round Table pizza went downhill too . They used to be VERY good. Then they got bought out....and that was the end of good pizzas at Round Table too. 😥

[@robertmatthews7527]

People still flock to Disney (whatever) because of what Walt Disney said years ago "the hardest part and one of the higher cost items of the theme park is keeping it clean". A mantra in their operating system. Even after 50+ years they maintain a very clean and safe place for the family. All of the fast food chains that have grown and sold to others lose their owners passion of something that people came to expect under previous ownership. It's that simple. I went online to order a Pizza Hut pie and the delivery was 2+ hours out. I drove to my local private shop, picked up a pie and I was done eating in less than one hour. Unless you are bed ridden why bother with the delivery.

[@bobb5454]

I'm a Pizza Hut cook from the mid to late 70's. I remember when we had the first pan pizza and it was baked in an actual pizza oven you find in many better pizza restaurants. Something about the way that oven cooked compared to the conveyor belt style pizza ovens seemed to make the pizza better too. The oven allowed for a pan pizza to be cooked completely as it should be. I ordered one in recent times and I can tell you the pizza was undercooked because the conveyor just doesn't seem to be able to time all types of pizza being cooked at the same time simply based upon time correctly. There's something about having a pizza oven with a floor and a experienced cook just knowing when the pizza is finished and pulling it at the right time. We did make all our dough and mix sauces in the store with spice bags. We also sliced our veggies in house. Meats were trucked in with the cheese which WAS frozen in the 70's. If you thought you were getting "fresh" cheese think again. I personally don't think freezing the cheese was a bad idea since it would keep longer and fresher between truck deliveries. Keep in mind you needed to keep much cheese on hand between deliveries so you didn't run out. We had cavatini pasta dishes, and some sandwiches such as ham/cheese and the Italian which were also good sellers. Pizza Hut in those days were a destination and I think the lack of competition for sit down pizza places really didn't exist as much. The reason I think pizza hut also did well during these times where I lived in Illinois in a small town is they were used as a place to take a date OUTSIDE of the home so you could be away from your parents. Weekend nights were really about having a cool place with other young people with that very special person or friends. It was also a time before cell phones and computers became distractors. I think many things have caused the demise of the original pizza hut model due to how young people have changed thanks to technology and sure I also agree with delivery pizza places. Now young people enjoy being at home to play games on computers with their friends or have 200 to 300 channels to watch movies on big screen tv's. Just perfect with a pizza right? We didn't have all those things to entertain us inside the home back when pizza hut was in its heyday so eating out may have made more sense. Change is inevitable and when it comes to any business seeing the handwriting on the wall earlier is better than later. Hopefully, if discovered early enough a business can stay relevant and survive. Lastly it's hard to jump from sit down restaurant real estate to smaller delivery pick-up type venues at the drop of a hat (no pun intended). Pizza Hut had all the wrong real estate to have that image of smaller delivery type venues that the video pointed out may appear more appealing to a customer seeking to get in and out quickly since that is the design of take out/delivery places. If you walk into a sit down pizza place you MIGHT have to wait for someone to get your pizza since dining in would likely be a priority. So, Pizza Hut essentially had to change from one model to another from their current real estate and I think they were reluctant to do that quickly (thinking as the video indicated some kind of revitalization with the OLD model). The Hut was a great experience for the time but times have changed due to all the things I've mentioned (and probably some I haven't thought of). Not sure what the Hut will look like in a few years from now but hopefully they can hold on to number two with some luck. The Pizza Hut of yester year is the End Of An Era.

[@Mike14264]

Yeah... I mean, even as a kid from the early 2000s, we live in Portugal, a country where I feel many things had a bit of a delay compared to most of Europe... which already had a delay in some things from America. I still got to experience that... cozy Pizza Hut vibe. The furniture was darker in color, it felt warm and had a fancier vibe to it. I dunno if, back then, the pizza was really better or not over here, or if nostalgia currently makes it look less greasy and more tasty, but we definitely had more choices regarding the food we could order. Now? It all feels... standardized. Just another fast food joint.

[@JakeTerch]

As time goes on, I see more and more of the iconic red-roofed buildings turned into other restaurants and businesses.

[@TheRealCountDancula]

Mine is a Dominos. 😭

[@thecunninlynguist]

@@TheRealCountDancula sorry for your loss. yuck

[@BewareTheLilyOfTheValley]

The Pizza Hut where I used to live shut down, which I was shocked at as the food was pretty good. They just cost more than Dominoes and their $5.99 deal, so I didn't order from there as often. If memory serves me right, I think it became a KFCBell (KFC and Taco Bell, lol). I was sad but then I ordered from that KFC and damn, the chicken was truly seasoned in a way I hadn't tasted at Church's and what I thought was superior, Popeyes. So, it was a good tradeoff.

[@chicagoakland]

Shoutout to the "Used To Be A Pizza Hut" Twitter account, which is keeping track of that.

[@snackshack902]

mine is now some market

[@andrew8970]

RIP to the pizza hut lunch buffet. One of the highlights of my childhood. As a kid I would have dreams about that.

[@Jim-so3zm]

Oh man they abolished that? Shame, it was heaven.

[@Dukeflyhawker]

No one will ever know how good their desert pizzas or mac n' cheese really were at the lunch buffet. I haven't had it in 20 years, and I still think about it, and crave it

[@Dukeflyhawker]

@You Tube I kid you not. I've never heard of red baron. Don't have it where I lived. The pizza hut lunch buffet was fantastic though, at least the one in my region

[@Dukeflyhawker]

@You Tube lol. That is hilarious. How or why do you know this?

[@joeldukes303]

@@Dukeflyhawker well, he calls herself KZbin, so they obviously know everything, whether it’s true or not.

[@videogamephenomhd]

Though Pizza Hut bolstered their customer attractions in the 90s, the future was already on the rise, and the menu was expanding to hot wings and calzones. But by the mid 2010s, locations across the globe were already closing, eventually for their former grounds to be taken over by hardware stores.

[@johnd2855]

I remember working at the Hut in the 70's and 80's. The dough was made fresh every day. The ingredients were measured out manually. The yeast, salt, and oil for the thin crust. added sugar for the thick crust and dry milk for the pan pizza dough. The dough mixer was working for hours. Then there was a dough roller to form the perfect thin crust to order. The pizza sauce was also mixed every morning. All vegetables, onions, green peppers mushrooms were sliced every morning also along with lettuce tomatoes and other condiments for the salad bar. One person came in at 5 in the morning in order to have all that done and be ready to open at 10.30. I could never imagine eating another kind of pizza in those days. Then came the partnership with Pepsi and all the home made ingredients began to be replaced with pre made packaged and frozen things. Today there is nothing made in the house, you might as well buy frozen pizza from the grocery store. Today I can count on a major heartburn if I eat Pizza Hut Pizza which happens only if somebody else is paying and there is nothing better to eat around.

[@thehammer3340]

You are 100% correct, I worked at Pizza Hut in the 80's and loved it, now it's so sad to see what Pepsico has done to it.

[@ADreamingTraveler]

I tell people this too that you're better off eating frozen pizza than paying for a pizza hut pizza. I've had frozen pizzas better than theirs

[@johnd2855]

@@thehammer3340 Yeah, it is mystifying to me that these big CEOs make millions of dollars to make decisions that will eventually sink the company. New products and add campaigns work for a little while but they are not substitute for quality.

[@xSkittlesxNewbx]

Depends where you live, I guess? Example, in England, you still prep all your veg in the morning with sauce, the difference is, you have much less time to do it all in.

[@handle-schmandle]

@John d; I worked there from like 82-85 and you have it exactly right here. By my time we still had fresh dough and a few other items, but the canned and frozen goods were increasing. We used to take daily deliveries from a local bakery and produce stand, but it all eventually started coming on the company truck. 👎

[@vincentferreira1135]

My great grandmother, an Italian woman who made her own handmade pizza, loved Pizza Hut. It was always a treat and an event when we would all go.

[@AirLancer]

"The food got worse" would probably be reason #1. Ironically, there are only so many corners to cut when it comes to pizza.

[@austinsalkowski]

When it's round, there's infinitely-many corners to cut 😉

[@TechGorilla1987]

They changed the dough and the sauce. No bueno. Never ordered again.

[@khsrm84]

@@TechGorilla1987 yeah, apparently they claim it's the same recipe and never changed, which maybe is true, but if so they definitely reduced the quality of ingredients in the recipe.

[@shadowpuppet8192]

I remember how their crusts used to taste. It was crunchy, it was greasy, it was amazingly perfect! But not anymore. It's not just...blegh. Bland, flavorless. You're lucky to get a good crunch.

[@Kruppt808]

An d other stuff got better

[@Yabuturtle]

I figured it'd be the same thing that happened to many other restaurants. They cut corners. McDonalds, Burger King, KFC ect. all used to taste better and then they cut corners, used cheaper ingredients and lowered their standards.

[@TVHouseHistorian]

Absolutely. KFC stands out the most to me. The Colonel would turn in his grave if he knew what they've done to his chicken.

[@philipbridler]

Lol. Know something before yapping kid.

[@Yabuturtle]

@@philipbridler What are you talking about? What is this, 2006? Calling someone else a "kid" but using "lol" all the time and not explaining why someone is wrong? Go somewhere else and try not to act like someone who just discovered the internet. It's embarrassing.

[@kowalskivideos6476]

Which is why Chick-fil-A is getting so popular. That company doesn’t cut corners

[@ericpabon2458]

i remember eating a quarter pounder with cheese when i was a kid in the 90's , now its like eating a burger at home. unless its a double with fresh ingredients hahahahahahaaaaaaaa

[@CliffHuxtableSweater]

To be honest, all fast food is absolute crap particularly since COVID. Nowadays I just take my bag and go hoping for the best. The only places that remain consistent are In and Out Burger and Chick fila. Two companies that are still NOT public, but privately ran (surprise). Everything else, and I mean every other fast food place is a gamble.

[@ZeusTheIrritable]

Just like a lot of other people, I have a lot of fond memories of Pizza Hut. Pizza Hut + renting a Genesis game on a Friday night was perfect for me.

[@ProjectGrim13]

Fuck yes! I remember going to Blockbuster and renting games. I remember you could rent game systems from them, it came in a black briefcase looking container lol. Pizza Hut and games.

[@UptownWatta]

It's simple... the ingredients changed to cut cost and then it just became a mediocre pie. If the pizzas were still craveable, their dine in model could still work to an extent. No one wants to go out to eat for mediocre pie. It is sad because the dine in experience, the red cups, the pac man games, the juke box, were all cornerstones of my childhood

[@andysmith5806]

It’s all frozen, the only thing we make fresh are the bases and those are made early in the day.

[@missingnola3823]

"It is sad because the dine in experience, the red cups, the pac man games, the juke box, were all cornerstones of my childhood"

[@Michael_Smith-Red_No.5]

Don't forget the portly red pepper and parmesan shakers.

[@excaliber8713]

Yeah it’s a huge difference in the recipe . I could only eat one slice . Which is sad because i used to be able to get four before I’m full. It’s very bland . Dominoes taste way better !

[@UptownWatta]

@@feelingafnar8885 not sure how old you are respectfully but there were nothing but dine in during the 80s and early to mid 90s

[@1966425]

I have to agree with whoever says it just doesn't taste as good as it used to. When those pan pizzas came out to the table in the restaurants, they were amazing. Sad that the restaurants are all gone in my area. Some also argue that Yum foods has gone cheap on the ingredients.

[@newzinski6946]

Yeah their pan pizzas today are super buttery, greasy and gross. Last time I had it it was the first time I didn't finish it and threw it out because I knew I wasn't going to eat it for leftovers. I enjoy Domino's pan pizza more and it's cheaper, and far less greasy etc. If I have to choose out of the 3 popular fast-food pizza chains I now choose Dominos any day over Pizza Hut or Papa Johns. Pizza hut is kinda just a soggy, super-greasy, type of pizza now. Dominos definitely listened to the criticism and expanded their menu while also totally revamping their stores and using better quality ingredients while also giving certain deals and discounts on their food. Pizza Hut's storefront is so old and gross they need to move away from dine-in and go exclusively to take-out, delivery, or small dine-in on the go. Their pricing is also not good comparatively. If you're going to charge to same as competitors and sometimes more you have to beat them in taste and quality. The reality is that Pizza Hut is charging the same for a product that is now inferior.

[@joeldavis5815]

Yum Foods, a giant conglomerate who now owns several very large food chains (Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut among others) and which is listed on the NYSE has decided to cheapen their food products so they can make loads more cash? Nah, you don't say. On another note, I can't believe I used to think all of these huge pizza chains make good pizza. Dominos tastes way too sweet, Little Caesars like greasy cardboard, and Papa John's is probably the best but definitely not worth the small fortune they charge. Not to mention that John Schnatter is a total d-bag.

[@newzinski6946]

@@joeldavis5815 of course none of these are nearly as good as mom and pop chains or homemade but for a lot of people who want something consistent, cheap, and fits a variety of palates, chain pizzas tend to be safe. Living over the U.S. and overseas it makes sense since pizza places will charge $18-26 USD for a large when these cheap fast food pizza chains can cost between $10-$20 for a large.

[@joeldavis5815]

@@newzinski6946 Replace "none of these are nearly as good" with "nearly inedible" and you'll hit closer to the mark IMO. I wonder these days who really likes these pizza sauces that taste as sweet as candy. Yuck. It makes me start to believe what I've read about these giant food corporations reading the scientific papers regarding how humans begin to become desensitized to and actually begin to crave excessive amounts of salt, sugar, and saturated fats. These a-holes really might be trying to addict us all by baiting us with unhealthy levels of these ingredients. 🤑🤑

[@ClockworkBard]

As someone who worked at the last red roof in our area in the late-90s/early-2000s before management swooped in and restructured, I can say they absolutely took a dump on the quality. They went from fresh and hand-made ingredients to flavorless frozen cardboard, all the while jacking up the prices. Then once they'd finished destroying the menu, they came around with blatantly overpriced clothing catalogue and told us we had to replace our uniforms with identical looking but lower quality items -- paid entirely from our own pocket. I remember doing the math, counting the absurd number of full shifts that was going to cost me and kindly told them where to stuff it. I have no sympathy for that soulless husk of a company.

[@matthewronsson]

Going to Pizza Hut in the late 80's early 90s was a treat for the Family, because it was a bit spendy for us at the time, just starting out. We moved to a new area around 1994-95 and ordered one it was not the same. It tasted odd. 'Maybe it was a one-off fluke, maybe it was me' crossed my mind. We tried it again, and nope. Third time: If it tastes like crap when you're famished, when anything is going to taste better, it's probably even worse than you think. I called the Manager to complain about the taste and quality of the Pizzas. He denied that there was any change in the ingredients and offered me a free Pizza. Given our tight budget, that would be great, but I simply asked: "Why would I want another Pizza that I'm complaining about"? For a one off badly made Pizza, sure. A free Pizza so bad that I'd rather buy a frozen one? No thanks. I recall going again years later, and it was simply "ok".

[@GotmerKed]

Going to Pizza Hut was a treat when I was a kid. My local Pizza Hut had a small arcade... it was so much fun. I remember the sizzle of the pans when the pizza was brought to your table. I remember how the cheese used to stretch and how the buttery crispy crust used to taste. Now the pizza's stink like feet and look fake.

[@jmacknaturalista]

😂😂😂I’m dying laughing, lol…not feet, bwahahahaha. this literally made my day all better! ✨I loved Pizza Hut for all of the above! Before the feet comment, haha!

[@spacefren3826]

Agree, Pizza Hut was king. When I went they had these tabletop sit down arcade games. Always Pac-Man. While waiting for the pizza the kids played the games. When the Pizza came it was an event. That stuff tasted like it was touched by God himself. Awesome atmosphere, awesome product. They need to get back to that.

[@eugenemckinney8736]

Ooh, that's why they're no longer makin it great!

[@hugon6717]

This IS a fun fact, mmmm.

[@nomadkeller8612]

Back in the 70's and 80's they used QUALITY ingredients .....NOT so in recent DECADES.

[@jfilesgraphics]

I remember back in the mid to late 80's when Pizza Hut provided a true in-person dining experience, like Olive Garden or Cracker Barrel. I remember when they had jukeboxes in the store, and you had a waiter come to your table. They should bring that back, along with quality pizza.

[@kellyherald1390]

I agree with you. And a pizza fresh from the oven can't be beat. The pan pizza crust would have a nice buttery, crispy bottom. You just can't get that from delivery.

[@emello4you]

They can and they should. Quality over quantity. All they have to do is close a ton of these small pickup only locations and put that money to restaurant style dine ins like the old days which would be a lot less locations but at least the old style and quality would be back. It can be done but it probably never will though, not with Yum Brands Inc. in charge.

[@matty6848]

In the U.K now in Pizza Hut they don’t even take your order at the table. You have to order via that crappy phone app and it’s just plonked down in your table, which I hate because your so limited on what extras you can have or if you want less cheese and more sauce etc, you could request that when ordering at the table, now you don’t have that option..

[@FlyGemini79]

Yes, with the salad buffet in the restaurant. I can smell it now...ahhh memories :)

[@jesseperry9602]

And bring back the Ms. Pac-Man machines! lol

[@kevenkokos1388]

I remember as a kid going to Pizza Hut with friends for birthday parties and the pizza was really good . it tasted homemade and basically it was. The flavor of the old Pizza Hut pizzas was much different than it is today. The overall atmosphere of the restaurant and the anticipation of receiving a piping hot, fresh pizza are forever good memories in my mind.

[@94sHippie]

I agree. I noticed a dip in quality around 2017-2018. The last few times I ate Pizza Hut, the dough seemed under-cooked and it just didn't taste as good as I remembered.

[@mattclose5490]

@@94sHippie bingo. I was waiting for someone to say it. Really poor product but comparison

[@johnk7178]

I worked at Pizza hut in the mid early/mid 90's. Started off as a dish rat then started making food. I remember working with the guy that made the dough for the next days pizza. I used to oil the pans up for him while he was running the dough mixer. The food was always so good, including the pasta. I remember prepping the stuffed crust with the large cheese string cheese stuff too. Loved the salad/pizza bar and the dessert pizza.

[@AdamSternberg]

I remember when Pizza Hut had dine-in pizza buffets. When you were a kid, that was a HUGE deal.

[@JackAttack64]

They still have them in Texas

[@darlahaines6928]

Also a big deal for some of us who were young adults back then!

[@michellejessey8654]

I loved those

[@ChicagoBirdGirl]

Those were the days!

[@scorpie6952]

Some of them still do

[@paulappel8094]

my mom worked at pizza hut when i was a kid. I remember watching and learning the whole pizza making process. Now i've been running pizza shops for 15 years and I love every second of what I do. I can thank pizza hut for that!

[@BlackenedGold]

this is great comment, glad you're chasing you passion.

[@Beaneabean]

How much money do you make? And are you single or looking for a side piece?

[@steele_heart77]

But the question remains… after 15 years of experience, are you able to outpizza the hut?

[@megawatts-jq5xm]

Hey just wanted to tell you that Plz read everything btw Jehovah and his son Jesus Christ love you so much that God would send his one and only son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead 3 days later Get a relationship with God and Jesus and confess for your sins and Live for Christ and not the world and allow God and Jesus into your hearts. God and Jesus are trying to save you from going to hell. HELL IS NOT A JOKE. Jehovah and Jesus are all of our Gods and Lords and Saviors✝️✝️✝️✝️SPREAD THE WORD✝️✝️✝️✝️✝️✝️✝️Pray to Jehovah and his son Jesus Christ get saved today ✝️✝️✝️✝️SPREAD THE GOSPEL✝️✝️✝️✝️✝️✝️✝️

[@chasesmom14]

That is really wonderful ❤❤

[@nobodies77]

Fun fact from someone who up until very recently was working at Pizza Hut: most of the stores are in horrible disrepair, and the turnover rate for employees is staggering. Pizza Hut locations can be and are actual dangerous places to work at, and usually the people working are paid so poorly. This may be exclusive to the regional ones owned by NPC International (now bankrupt and bought out by another group), but if you've ever wondered why your local workers are rude or the food is bad... Workers are encouraged to put out bad food in unsanitary conditions, with dangerous and broken equipment, for incredibly low pay with no chance for upward mobility. Locations are often so understaffed that there can sometimes be only a single person in the building running counter, phones and kitchen. Every single person I worked with in the kitchen besides management ended up quitting due to stress and overwork. When upper management is making millions while their stores are downright hazardous to work in, I'm not shocked that the company is on a decline.

[@CPTAnonymous]

If you replaced every instance of "Pizza Hut" in your post with "Domino's," reality would remain exactly the same.

[@gabygaby9911]

I had this same experience working for Pizza Hut

[@dannydaw59]

How is the equipment dangerous?

[@bigj-dubb4068]

Why would any business encourage their employees to put out a bad product?

[@Raskolnikov70]

It seems to be part of the corporate culture at Pizza Hut more than other restaurant chains. Worked for them back in the 90's and we had a lot of the same complaints. One of the issues is that a huge chunk of the store manager's pay is performance bonuses, and those are based on a lot of cost-cutting and efficiency standards. One of the managers we had was an expert at gaming that system and maxing out his bonus every quarter, but we were always running short-staffed and running out of ingredients close to delivery day because cutting labor hours and not wasting product were how he made his mortgage payment. It's a perverse system.

[@havfunwithit]

I’v watched a number of these videos and I can tell you the real reason why restaurants fail. The staff gets lazy, dirty and they have no consistency in quality. All our Pizza Huts are gone. Why? They were gross and a name change can’t it fix that. The pizzas for the Buffet were made way in advance and stacked with trays in between. That steamed the pizzas and made them soggy. The buildings aged with no repair and now sit abandoned. CEO’s really aren’t very intelligent. Why don’t they try eating at their own restaurants? Food that makes you puke may be a clue why sales are down.

[@shibolinemress8913]

Fun fact: Pizza Hut in Germany kept the name, but in German, "Hut" (pronounced "hoot") means "hat", so many think it's "Pizza Hat" and that red roof in the logo is a hat! That leaves many to wonder who'd ever wear pizza on their head... 😁

[@alextanner115]

😆 haha this gave me a good laugh

[@wildwest5436]

Lol. You're right! Lived in Germany for several years and am married to a German. So many funny stories like this crack me up!

[@MichaelJohnson-vi6eh]

and to flip it, there is a catalog company in the US called Fingerhut. I always wondered what kind of a hut looked like a finger. Fingerhut means "thimble" in german - a hat for your finger.

[@shibolinemress8913]

@@MichaelJohnson-vi6eh 🤣👍

[@MsMinoula]

So there is still pizza hut in germany?

[@ryanschlanser1657]

Disagree with the conclusion on the 2 reasons for decline. It's simple, the quality and consistency has gone way down, probably due to frozen ingredients and I'm guessing poor management/ training I want less focus on new menu items (though I liked that 2014 rollout of the drizzles and all that) and more focus on quality of their staples like the pan pizza

[@jakerojas4756]

The balsamic drizzle 👍

[@MadisonFalcoFoods]

I completely agree

[@jacobp.2024]

I used to love Pizza hut growing up. Now the toppings and sauce taste off, and I just can't get over that. Bad sauce ruins pizza for me, and something changed with theirs at some point.

[@Phyrre56]

Yup it's definitely a decline in quality. Pizza Hut was never authentic Italian, but in the late 80/early 90s it was good junk food. Nowadays it tastes processed. The dough is too greasy, the sauce is too sweet. Feels like a frozen pizza that somebody warmed up for you.

[@idontwatchfilm]

Straight facts. 99% of the population does not care about catchy menu items. It is simple. You mention Pizza Hut and everyone looks at you dumb. Why? Because Pizza Hut is not good.

[@TonyGearSolid]

I used to love Pizza Hut as a kid and remember my parents taking me there with my friends after seeing a movie or for my birthday, but sometime in the 2000s the quality of their food took a complete nosedive and it has only gotten worse since. In contrast, I remember Dominos pizza tasting like cardboard and easily being the worst pizza I've ever had, but they managed to turn it all around in the late 00/early 10s by greatly improving the quality of their food.

[@eazymb.]

I remember the first time I had that new dominos that’s now regular dominos. Fifth grade. Late 2009. My friends and I would pool our money together every Friday and buy a handmade pan with that coupon and watch Friday Night Smackdown. But I remember eating mostly Pizza Hut when I was little. It’s almost like Pizza Hut WAS the pizza industry. I got that same pizza the other day. Even my dad likes it and he’s not a pizza guy.

[@Hun_Uinaq]

Somebody got themselves a raise by saving the company who knows how many millions on ingredients some year. A lot of these people at higher levels of business think that if it looks great on paper, it’s going to pan out well in reality. It doesn’t. If you cheap out on ingredients, people are going to notice. It’s going to taste like shit.

[@JimmyMon666]

I haven't noticed it as much with Pizza Hut, but the other Yum brands company of Taco Bell. Taco Bell is complete slop now days. I just make tacos at home now, much better. My local pizza hut still makes decent pizza, it just costs so much.

[@littledudefromacrossthestr5755]

Ok

[@johnchedsey1306]

I worked at Dominos in the mid 90s and yeah, it was pretty bad. And the experience of working there was also so bad that I haven't touched their products since.

[@lonnielongino798]

I'm a former General Manager of a Pizza Hut & also a Dominos. I can tell you why Pizza Hut is failing in one word!! PRICE.....Very simply they are 15-20% higher than Dominos,offer less specials and are now approximately the same quality on ingredients. The reason Little Caesars became a national pizza power was the $5 hot n ready. Domino's offers $5.99 carryouts. Pizza Hut doesn't come close, cheapest pizza is like $10. When people are struggling to make ends meet , price is everything.

[@razisgosu]

Totally agree with this. I haven't ordered Pizza Hut in a very long time, a single Large, stuffed crust meat lovers delivered, with tax and tip will run close to $30. I realize its a premium pizza, but man is that a lot for a single pizza.

[@smb-c3po]

You can actually blame the economy for that.

[@smb-c3po]

@@razisgosu It was a lot more affordable in the '90s.

[@lonnielongino798]

@@smb-c3po I agree but Pizza Hut is taking advantage of the situation and increasing their prices more than the other chains. Like I said Pizza Hut doesn't have any pizzas under $10.

[@smb-c3po]

@@lonnielongino798 Should we blame the CEO?

[@Cursed0rDamned]

Their cost is primarily a fail they are one of the most expensive pizzas as a industry insider Their ingredients got more processed, meats were saltier, vegetables went from freshly prepped daily to pre diced and vacuum sealed, they started using pre made frozen dough circles instead of fresh made dough daily, they instituted a ingreadiant cup measuring system for toppings to cut down on waste and excess. Weighing and measuring everything obsessively. All of this to cut down on cost and hourly time for prep, all the while raising price. So you now pay more for less, and have less in quality. So you now get less toppings on a more heavily processed pizza for more money then the competition. When I was a kid first working there we made everything practically. We made the sauce daily, the dough daily, we daily chopped vegetables, and we portioned and weighed dough for every pizza. Now in the name of speed, convenience, and cost everything is pre packaged and set up to be quickly tossed on a pizza.

[@jamescorbin421]

Pizza hut is very,VERY disappointing.I once ordered a Pizza with 5 Toppings/Ingredients of which I paid for & tipped the Delivery Driver a 5.Pizza Hut had already charged a 3 Dollar delivery Fee.When the Pizza arrived,it was missing one Topping I had paid for. Thank God for Dominos and here in Bama,Domino's is sorry too.Unlike Domino's in Atlanta .The best Pizza Hut I've had has been in Hawaii ( Oahu).

[@skttnm]

What you explained is dead on for just about anything corporate in America. It’s made our nation boring as hell and placed the love of money over all other aspects of life. I have loved traveling from a young age. Experiencing new quirks from place to place is fascinating to me. But now, it doesn’t matter where you go, it’s the same restaurants, same stores, same gas stations, same same even if they have a different label. Even mom and pop restaurants have been forced to use the same food distributors. I’ve been to all 50 states and unless I have a specific reason, I find I might as well stay home. I’m not paying $1500 on a family trip just to eat at McDonalds and find the same cheap trinkets in gift shops I can here at home. The business world found the magic formula to wring out every last cent, change the laws to handcuff consumers, and set unfair and two-faced scum practices like amortization tables and hyper controlled markets based on fluff. Thank god I’ll be dead in 20 years. I’m not even being facetious about it.

[@pitbullw35581]

They all do that, it’s a game of advertising and slot times, also availability You go to fast food for fast food, you can make your own pizza at home instead Costs cuts come from the destruction of the middle class also If you make 25k a year now, it’s equal to 12.5k a year in the 90s If u made 30k a year over the past 30 years, they stole half your annual income without u realizing it People probably buy dominos more bc they think it’s edgy, nothing more or less Last time I ate at dominos it was joke compared to the Hut

[@Mike2077f]

Man I worked at little ceasers a few years ago and we made the dough fresh, on all the pizzas and breadsticks. The fact that you pay two or three times more for a pizza from PH, made with frozen dough is just insulting. At little ceasers, we'd use vacuum sealed toppings and shit as well but you pay less for it at least.

[@pisces031372aj]

I agree. I ordered a pizza from PH and I could see the sauce the toppings were so thin. I should see cheese, not sauce. I pay way more from my small local pizza place now but the pizza is really good. Sorry to see PH fall off because I loved their pan pizza.

[@pinkiepiebiggestfan6099]

I believe the number one reason for pizza huts decline is the quality of their product. In an attempt to become a fast food item like McDonald's or little Caesars 5 minute pizza, PH has sacrificed quality for quantity at a higher price. I remember in the late 90's through the 2000s the best pizza on the market was the stuffed crust pizza. Far better than the cardboard tasting little Caesars pizza or the metallic tasting dominos pizza. Now Dominos tastes good and the pizza hut pizza box would probably taste better than the pizza inside it

[@dav1d9]

Cardboard tasting? Metallic tasting? Bro what are you on 💀💀

[@caseytailfly]

He’s not wrong

[@deusvult6920]

@@dav1d9 you seem like you're too young to know what the 90s and 2000s were like.

[@deusvult6920]

You are correct it's the quality. Domino's redid everything to address the quality at the same time pizza hut was doing everything to turn into McDonald's of pizza. Domino's is actually good now. And pizza hut judt tastes like the box

[@Tech_Otter]

I work as a cook for pizza hut. We're required to make your pizza in less than four minutes. During a calm evening this is possible but on a busy night, don't expect your pizza to look pretty or to be topped 100% evenly. Company doesn't care if the pizza doesn't look nice, as long as it isn't really ugly or incorrect (aka missing a topping or wrong sauce) it gets sent out. They prefer speed and we can be fired if we're too slow. Also everything comes in frozen and pre-made. Dough, cheese, everything. Half my shift is just setting up the frozen dough disks to thaw overnight. Even Papa John's handmakes their dough still.

[@gregweber3387]

When I graduated from college in 1990, I entered their management training program and managed multiple corporate owned red roof restaurants. I think the taste of the pizza was far better than it is today. We used to make the dough fresh. I remember they were shifting to using some frozen doughs about the time I left in 1992 so I'm not sure if that is still the case. I think the pizza sauce isn't as flavorful as it used to be either. Also, I used to love eating a fresh hot pizza fresh from the oven. You don't get that same experience when it's delivered or carried out. When I joined Pizza Hut in 1990, they were opening many of the delivery/carryout stores to compete with Dominos. I can't blame them for wanting to get in on delivery since it was a major market opportunity; but they shouldn't have abandoned all their dine-in restaurants. That's part of what made the Pizza Hut experience special. The atmosphere; enjoying pizza and pitchers of beer and soda with family and friends.

[@anthonydarter]

As a former employee, the downfall started when they went to all frozen crusts. They used to make most from a flour mix. After that, the taste was different, and well as having less toppings, as a cost measure.

[@joshmckearney6342]

and we all noticed

[@DarkCalx]

THIS! I remember when we switched from hand made dough to the frozen disks for everything, and started noticing the sales of certain products were slowing down. Before I left the company, there were days I would only prep 5 Big New Yorkers in the morning, and still have 1 or 2 left at the end of the night.

[@Sixxdee9]

That hand tossed dough was so buttery and crispy and greasy and good it was the best part of the pan pizza.

[@jcaashby3]

The pan pizza also shrunk. They were much thicker and buttery on the edges years ago. Some suit made the change thinking we would not notice but we did and now Pizza Hut is an after thought when at one point it was the go to pizza place for me.

[@schris3]

That's the corporate mentality for you.

[@terrellwhited8003]

Echoing what many other people are saying, Pizza Hut was a part of my childhood but the food started to get noticeably worse as the years went on. I now mostly order Domino's not because I "associate them with delivery" but rather their pizzas just taste better and less plasticky. Which is wild to me because I'm old enough to remember when Dominos was easily the worst national chain

[@SRose-vp6ew]

Dominos literally got better than Pizza Hut back when we had that 2010 tomato shortage, both places changed recipes at the same time. In fact, before that Domino's was famous for its flavorless and chewy "cardboard crust" and tomato sauce that tasted "like bad ketchup." By 2010 both places had drastically changed recipes, practices, and sourcing locations. Dominos did it for the better, Pizza Hut killed themselves off to try to save a few pennies.

[@pixelpuppy]

@@SRose-vp6ew I haven't tried Domino's cuz I was old enough to remember when Domino's was the worst and that kinda stuck with me. So does new Domino's taste better than old Pizza Hut? cuz yeah old Pizza Hut was really good back then.

[@xxLadyPanther30xx]

Agreed

[@zackschilling5154]

I remember getting domino's in the mid to late 2000s thinking that it tasted horrible then when I went to college they were the only pizza place in town so I ordered from them in 2021 and now they are my favorite place to order from

[@sirblack1619]

@@pixelpuppy Dominos have been better than Pizza Hut taste wise since 2008 in my opinion. They have better service as well and add the cheaper prices it is no wonder that Dominos surpassed Pizza Hut.

[@nathankinman7753]

Furthermore, my first boss who hired me at Pizza Hut, I knew elsewhere prior. He TRIED to get other managers to help him run the store as his health was starting to decline. There's only so much one could do. Corporate would not allow it. Then he TRIED to promote from within his own staff. And STILL, corporate gave him crap about it, and essentially forced him to resign before they would have fired him. Corporate would rather lose competent employees treating everyone like shit, than to improve employee morale.

[@chuckinhouston9952]

Interesting leadership technique. It's been tried on countless occasions by many companies who are either out of business or not otherwise doing well.

[@joshuabradshaw9120]

It's interesting to see how struggling companies react to big challenges. I see a different pattern with the successful comebacks versus the unsuccessful ones. The companies that turn things around make an effort to understand current trends, adapt to competition and make good fiscal decisions, whereas the others seem to keep doubling down on failed strategies.

[@Aviciifi]

I worked for Pizza Hut for a bit last year and the reason why I believe Pizza Hut is declining is because of the lack of quality food. Just about everything there is frozen/prepared and it shouldn't be especially for a pizza place. From the dough to all the toppings, it already comes in bags prepared and precut. The dough comes in frozen "frisbees" and is thrown into a pan that is oiled. Then the dough gets a brush of oil around the crust. The breadsticks are also frozen and they just get a bunch of oil brushed on top of it. All of the meat comes in frozen in bags, especially the cheese and sauce. The sauce is just thawed out in hot water. All of the vegetables come in plastic bags that are in bags. The pineapple comes in a big can. All of the desserts already come in prepared and frozen and all the cooks have to do is throw it in the oven. The cooks are trained to give you the amount of toppings the company tells them to put. There are pictures of "sample pizzas" plastered around the kitchen to show the cooks how each pizza is supposed to look like. They're told by managers to skimp on the cheese/meat/toppings. A pizza with the directions for "extra cheese" only gets around 1/2 a cup of extra cheese. The wings all come in frozen and the sauces all come in bags. Each order of wings only gets about 2 ounces of sauce (not a lot). You get the idea of why Pizza Hut just isn't doing the best anymore.

[@oliverg6643]

I agree and their wings are almost $2 a pop for some skimpy dried chicken that looks like they get tossed for 10 seconds after they come out the oven

[@bbranett2188]

Moron marketing coming up with a new crust (hot dog, cheesy bite etc) that takes 4 minutes longer to make and then sell the same price as a medium. The same price as the frozen section at the discount grocery store. Focus on normal pizza and charge by the mile on delivery. Get rid of the, stuffed crust, rectangle pizza fancy box meals. Yeah... I worked there.

[@Aviciifi]

@@oliverg6643 Yes, their wings are overpriced and dry. Their sauces are just as bad

[@Aviciifi]

@@bbranett2188 surprisingly, the big dinner box at Pizza Hut is the biggest seller for them. I’m guessing because of the variety that you get with it. I hated delivering the big dinner boxes as they were so inconvenient to carry and deliver.

[@conrad463]

Unfortunately wings are going to cost you $2/wing just about anywhere you go now. The cost of wings are way up and they obviously need to make some type of profit on it. I'd imagine wings are one of Pizza Hut's least profitable menu items. Right now anyways.

[@JoMarieM]

When I was a kid, eating out at Pizza Hut was kind of a major event. I have fond memories of the entire atmosphere, with the stained-glass hanging lamps, the red plastic cups, the red-checked tablecloths and the intoxicating smell of fresh pizzas being made when you walked in the door. And then getting to eat your pizza fresh and hot straight from the oven -- not quite the same as eating delivered pizzas. Pizza Hut also used to give out premiums -- for example, I remember one time back in the 80s when they gave out a set of Care Bear glasses. But now, most of the major pizza chains, not just Pizza Hut but also Papa John's, have eliminated dining areas in most of their restaurants and gone to delivery only. Today, it seems like mostly small, privately owned regional pizza places have dine-in experiences. And that's kind of sad, because going out to eat pizza is so much fun!

[@tanesha8942]

And arcade games, particularly TMNT

[@dudeda96er]

@@tanesha8942 yup as well as Ms Pac-Man and their pinball machines

[@josealvarado4996]

I do remember that beautiful smell after 20+ years and yes it was amazing

[@Acolis]

i will 100% support those small famly owned dine in pizzeria's over pizza hut or any chain company really.

[@pursang6792]

I worked at Pizza Hut in the late 70's while finishing up High School and 2 years of college. While I worked there it was owned by the brothers and produced pizza that was pretty good. Over the last 10 years I ordered pizza there maybe 15 times. The taste has really slipped and the price is really exceeds what you're getting. Time for Pizza Hut to either produce better quality food and lower the prices.

[@Skank_and_Gutterboy]

Exactly. As a kid in the 80s, that place was great. Those days are long gone, sorry to say.

[@glennpilarski2370]

I worked at pizza hut in the 80s loved the food, I keep on ordering it now and then still hoping it was a bad experience, but it is not. Their pizza has gone so far down hill that when my wife suggests it I mostly say no. Toppings are less try to sell large pizza when they are actually medium. Sad day because not only ex employee, that some people would say I would never eat there if they know how things were made,I still did because it was enjoyable. Not anymore,Sorry Pizza Hut you lost me, food sucks now.

[@Skank_and_Gutterboy]

@@glennpilarski2370 The name "Supreme" is a household name and other brands successfully use it. Too bad the Pizza Hut legacy has slipped so bad.

[@tomdoyle5720]

So Dominos is now considered the Best Pizza of the large Franchise companies? Proof that the "Race to the bottom" NEVER results in high quality anything

[@VernCrisler]

Yeah, I ate at Pizza Hut a few times in the last five years and noticed that the pizzas didn't taste that good. I wondered why. Now I see from comments that the corporation was trying to save money by using cheaper ingredients. Oh well, I go to other pizza places now.

[@pearlmax]

I worked for Dominos and Pizza Hut. The way Dominos operates their stores and makes their items is far more efficient and simpler than the clusterfuck that is Pizza Hut. Drivers would come in, cash out then go cut vegetables without washing their hands, throw frozen dough in a potentially moldy pan, spray it with Pam and move onto the next. Dishes were "washed" by hand which consisted mostly of pulling pans one by one from a stack, dipping them in what at one point is clean water, spraying it down with a sprayer and stacking them up, hence the mold spots.

[@b5maddog]

I’m in my late 50’s and I remember loving Pizza Hut. Whether it was take out or dining in. A few problems that I recognize and reasons for me not going anymore is the quality of pizza has greatly declined, the service is slow even when they are dead and the management seems nonexistent. Even the cleanliness of the restaurant is poor. So sad compared what it used to be. Almost reminds me of Friendly’s which are barely around anymore.

[@NecroBob73]

I'm in my late 40's. I remember enjoying Pizza Hut for the experience, but not the pizza. The stained glass lampshade, the ugly vinyl booths, the salad bar...but I never cared for their pizza. I always (even to today) thought their pizza was gross. I preferred Shakey's growing up.

[@mycitysucks8096]

@@NecroBob73 never had Shakey's but Pizza Hut dine in pizza was the best ever for me. Could be because I was young but I'll never forget waiting for the pizza and I would eat it with a knife and fork sometimes. And those classic red see through cups they had

[@sanctuaryism]

@@NecroBob73 yeah I am 36 and basically remember these days as a kid in the 90's where we had a dine in location near where we lived then... this was around the time they were slowly starting to die off. just for the dessert bar alone was worth the whole experience lol.

[@tubester4567]

Not only that, but in a lot of western countries, pizza franchises have been taken over by one particular ethnic group. I think its a combination of cheap/frozen ingredients, a general lack of care and lack of cleanliness in the stores. Restaurant franchises like Pizza Hut used to be spotlessly clean and the food smelled nice. Now the restaurants are dirty and smell terrible.

[@RJARRRPCGP]

Friendly's is definitely gone in Vermont! It got turned into an Advance Auto Parts store during the 2010s in Springfield, Vermont and the one in Rutland, Vermont, is boarded up like there was a hurricane!