Sweet Sriracha Dynamite Pizza - © 2014 Pizza Hut

Pizza Lore: Pizza Hut Updates, Upgrades Pies

Pizza Purveyors have been experimenting with new toppings and crust configurations for the past couple of years, in an ongoing attempt to raise their brand profiles in an ever-more-competitive market niche. It’s Pizza Hut’s turn, now, and they’re rocking some major food-forward ingredients…

New Pizza Hut Logo and Box - © 2014 Pizza HutThe new look of the new Pizza Hut ‘Flavour Of Now’… Whaddaya think?

Okay. The joint with the red roof is leaping headlong into the 21st Century and trying to go upscale with a selection of new toppings and what they call ‘drizzle’ sauces.

A recent post at the TIME website runs down the new menu in detail, but I just can’t resist telling you about some of the new stuff on offer. And it isn’t all food.

Pizza Hut uniforms are going ‘black tie’ – or, at least, black shirt – in a style that a Designer might call ‘casual elegant’. The new logo and take-out box designs echo this new upscale look with a new, stylized red roof logo on a field of black.

Getting to the food… New sauces include exotics such as Balsamic Vinegar, Honey Sriracha, and Buffalo Wing. There are, in fact, six new sauces on offer,11 new ‘signature’ Pizzas and ten new crust ‘flavours’.

Those new pies come with names such as Pretzel Piggy, Old Fashioned Meatbrawl, Cherry Pepper Bombshell and Cock-a-Doodle Bacon, Are you getting the idea? If this all-new approach doesn’t appeal. take heart. Pizza Hut is keeping its best selling traditional favourites on the menu, too. Something for everyone, apparently.

Pizza Hut CEO David Gibbs calls the make-over, “one of the biggest moves we’ve ever made in our history.” He emphasizes that it’s nothing less than a complete relaunch of the brand. But maybe that’s what Pizza Hut needs. Its sales have been falling in recent years as new competitors in the fast-casual food segment – notably, close competitors Domino’s, Little Caesar’s and Papa John’s who have gained significant ground on The Hut.

Pizza Hut calls its new approach ‘The Flavour of Now’. It premieres chain-wide on November 19. Tell us what you think…

~ Maggie J.