Article

Pizza Hut announces complete brand, menu overhaul

Changes include new crusts, drizzles, toppings, uniforms, website and more.

November 10, 2014

Down late in the fourth quarter, Pizza Hut seems to be throwing a Hail Mary pass. The brand today announced a complete overhaul of its menu and branding presence less than a week after naming a new global CEO, David Gibbs.

This news comes after nearly two years of negative US sales for the 56-year-old company, a trend that is completely opposite of its main competitors, Domino's and Papa John's. It also comes amidst a new atmosphere in the pizza space in which fledgling top-your-own concepts are quickly establishing themselves throughout the country while leveraging the coveted fast casual segment. 

The changes include:

10 new crust flavors.These include Hut Favorite, toasted asiago, honey Sriracha, salted pretzel, toasted parmesan, fiery red pepper, toasted cheddar, garlic buttery blend, Ginger Boom Boom and Get Curried Away. 

Five new premium ingredients, including sliced banana peppers, Peruvian cherry peppers, fresh spinach, salami and classic meatball. 

Four new drizzles: Balsamic, honey Sriracha, barbeque and Buffalo. 

Skinny Slice pizzas: These lower-calorie versions of Pizza Hut's hand-tossed signatures have been in test throughout the year. According to the company, five special recipes for this lineup, including the Skinny Club, with garlic parmesan sauce, hardwood-smoked ham, diced Roma tomatoes, and spinach with a toasted Asiago crust. All of these recipes are 250 calories or less per slice. 

"We are so excited to be offering such a wide range of flavorful and delicious pizzas that also happen to have fewer calories than our other pizzas," Rachel Huber, Pizza Hut's senior nutritionalist, said in a news release. "Nobody wants to feel like they're sacrificing flavor when they're counting calories, and with our new line of Skinny Slice Pizzas, they'll never need to." 

Eleven new specialty recipes available with six signature sauces. The sauces include barbeque, classic marinara, premium crushed tomato sauce, honey Sriracha sauce, creamy garlic parmesan sauce and Buffalo sauce. The specialty pizzas include: 

• BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger
• Old-Fashioned Meatbrawl
• 7-Alarm Fire
• Sweet Sriracha Dynamite
• Cock-A-Doodle Bacon
• Giddy-Up BBQ Chicken
• Buffalo State of Mind
• Garden Party
• Pretzel Piggy
• Cherry Pepper Bombshell
• Hot and Twisted

"We know that American tastes and preferences are evolving, and this new menu is designed to completely wow them," Executive Chef Wiley Bates III said in the release. "While some customers will be finding ways to bring flavors to the pizzas they've fallen in love with, others may be trying them for the first time. And, with so many options, there's definitely something for everyone." 

The new menu, called the Flavor of Now, will be available nationwide Nov. 19. The brand's signatures will remain on the menu, including Meat Lovers, Stuffed Crust and Supreme. 

Off-the-menu changes

Additionally, the overahaul includes a new website design at pizzahut.com, a new logo, new box and "relaxed" uniforms.

Online ordering will be available in both English and Spanish on mobile and web and will be more interactive and visual, according to the company. The site redesign is aimed at making it easier and quicker to order from the larger menu.

The brand's red roof logo has been updated to look more contemporary and appears on delivery boxes, cups and employee uniforms.

All of these changes will be communicated through Pizza Hut's new ad campaign, called "Flavor of Now." 

According to the company, this is the biggest change in its history and "the biggest change to the pizza category ever." 

"Pizza Hut has been defining what's possible with pizza since 1958 and our newest changes are the most significant we've made in our history as we once again look to take the entire category to another level," Gibbs said in the release. "We are radically reinventing the pizza category with a menu transformation that more than doubles our amount of ingredients and flavors, a world-class digital ordering experience and an entirely new look and feel to our brand, all the way down to our uniforms. We couldn't feel better about the direction we're going and the long-term impact these changes will have on our business."