Pizza Hut

Pizza Hut Inc

File:PizzaHut.svg
Company type	Wholly owned subsidiary
Industry	Fast food
Founded	Wichita, Kansas, USA (1958)
Headquarters	Addison, Texas, USA
Key people	Albert Webster (founders) David C. Novak (CEO)
Products	Pizza, Pasta
Number of employees	~ 850 000
Parent	Yum! Brands
Website	pizzahut.com

Pizza Hut Inc. is a restaurant chain and international franchise based in Addison, Texas, USA (a northern suburb of Dallas) specializing in American-style pizza along with side dishes including (depending on location): buffalo wings, breadsticks, and garlic bread. Pizza Hut is the world's largest pizza restaurant chain and is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc., whose restaurants total approximately 34,000 restaurants, delivery-carry out units, and kiosks in 100 countries.

The chain was founded as a pizzeria in 1958 by Dan and Frank Carney. Borrowing $600 from their mother Kathy, they purchased some second-hand equipment. Then the Moraine Valley students took a family pizza recipe, rented a small building, and opened the first restaurant at a busy intersection in Wichita, Kansas. Additional restaurants were opened, with the first franchise unit opening in 1959 in Topeka, Kansas. At the same time Pizza Hut was growing in and around Kansas, Shakey's Pizza was developing a stronghold along the West Coast. The competition provided Pizza Hut the impetus to evaluate its mission and direction. Dan and Frank Carney saw Shakey's expanding into their territory and realized that they needed to determine if Pizza Hut should be in the entertainment business or if it should be a neighborhood pizza restaurant. They decided to stick with the neighborhood business and realized that they needed to have a good standard image. The Carney brothers began to systematize operations and building designs to counter the competition from Shakey's. The franchise network continued to grow through friends and business associates, and by 1964 a unique standardized building appearance and layout was established for franchised and company-owned stores, creating a universal look that customers easily recognized. By 1970, with 310 stores nationwide, Pizza Hut went public on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock ticker symbol PIZ. In 1977, Pizza Hut was acquired by Pepsico, along with KFC and Taco Bell. In 1997, the three restaurant chains were spun off into Tricon, and in 2002 joined with Long John Silver's and A&W Restaurants to become YUM! Brands. Pizza Hut have opened Pizza Hut Express which specialize in small 9" pizzas.

The oldest continuously operating Pizza Hut in the world is in Manhattan, Kansas, in a shopping and tavern district known as Aggieville.

Products

First Pizza Hut

The plaque on the first Pizza Hut building

The most commonly sold food at the restaurants is pizza, which usually comes in four different sizes including Personal Pan (which is an individual serving), Small, Medium and Large, although most stores have done away with the small size. They come in a variety of toppings, including "specialty" styles, which consists of Meat Lovers, Pepperoni Lovers, Cheese Lovers, Veggie Lovers, Double Cheeseburger, Supreme, and Super Supreme, which is Pizza Hut's most expensive pizza. Pan Pizza has a thicker crust than most other commercially available pizzas. Unlike most of Pizza Hut's competitors (such as Domino's deep dish or Papa John's Perfect Pan), Pizza Hut does not charge extra for its pan pizza, except in Poland, Australia and the UK.

In addition to the Pan Pizza they sell garlic cheese bread, which was the idea of a Grand Rapids, Minnesota employee named Mark Bondhus in 1979 , Pizza Hut also sells "Stuffed Crust" (with the outermost edge wrapped around a coil of mozzarella cheese); "Hand-Tossed" (which is more like traditional pizzeria crusts); "Thin 'N Crispy" (a thin and crispy dough which was the original crust); "Bigfoot", which is a two-foot by one-foot square cut pizza; and the Dippin' Strips pizza, which is similar to a Sicilian pizza but is cut into small strips that can be dipped into a number of sauces. Another is the "Edge" pizza, where the pizza is baked with no puffy crust, and the toppings reach nearly to the edge of the pie. There is a crust that is not as thick as a pan and not as thin as thin crusted pizza. It is used on the Full House XL pizza.

Pizza Hut experiments with new products frequently. Less successful ones have been discontinued. These include Chicago Dish Pizza and Sicilian pizza; the Sicilian Pizza made a 2006 comeback as the Lasagna Pizza. Other products Pizza Hut has offered are the "P'zone", Pizza Hut's version of the calzone; the "Cheesy Bites", similar to the "Stuffed Crust" except the crust has been divided into bite-sized pieces that can be pulled apart; and the "Insider", where a layer of cheese is in between two layers of dough. They also have a pizza called the double deep pizza. It has the double the toppings than a medium and it has 50% more cheese. Then wrapping the crust over the top to hold all the toppings in.

Pizza Hut also has a number of side dishes including bread sticks, cheese sticks, cinnamon sticks, mozzarella sticks, onion rings, chicken wings (Buffalo Burnin' Hot, Buffalo Medium, Buffalo Mild, Honey BBQ, Spicy BBQ, Garlic Parmesan, Cajun, Spicy Asian) boneless wings, chicken munchers, jalapeño poppers, and garlic bread. They also have Quepapas potato bites filled with cheese and jalepeno flavor.. They have other sides like a basket of taters or tater tots and a plate sixi mini fried apple pies.

Depending on the individual restaurant size, Pizza Huts also may offer pasta dinners such as Spaghetti and Cavatini - a mixture of Cavatelli (shells), Rotini (spirals), and Rotelle (wheels). They often come with a side of garlic bread. Some Pizza Huts also serve lunch and dinner buffets with numerous types of pizza, breadsticks and pastas, as well as a salad bar.

A new, upscale concept was unveiled in 2005, called "Pizza Hut Italian Bistro". Unveiled at fifty locations nationwide, the Bistro is similar to a traditional Pizza Hut, except that new pasta dishes are offered, such as penne pasta, chicken pomodoro, toasted sandwiches and other foods. Instead of black, white, and red, Bistro locations feature a burgundy and tan motif. Pizza Hut Bistros still serve the chain's traditional pizzas and sides as well.

A new version of Pizza Hut pizza, named Pizza Mia, was introduced in 2007. The product is aimed at the cost sensitive consumer segment and typically is priced at $6.99. In comparison, a Pizza Hut medium sized, hand-tossed pepperoni pizza is priced at $10.24 (Houston, Texas 12/15/2007). You can get three or more Pizza Hut Pizza Mia pizzas for $5 per pizza. The Pizza Mia comes in only one size (medium) and it is fully customizable, with extra toppings costing $1.50.

One slice of Pizza Hut peperoni Pizza Mia weighs 83 grams. One slice of Pizza Hut pepperoni hand-tossed pizza weighs 96 grams (see: http://www.pizzahut.com/Files/PDF/PizzaMiaNutritionFacts.pdf ).

International operations

File:The old pizza hut logo.gif

The Pizza Hut logo used until 1999. This logo is still used at many Pizza Hut locations.

Pizza Hut restaurants are located throughout the world. Like many international chain restaurants, Pizza Hut locations outside of the United States and Canada offer different menu choices based on food traditions of the local culture.

Andorra

There are two Pizza Hut locations in Andorra: one in Escaldes and one in Meritxell.

Bangladesh

Pizza Hut at GEC Mor in Chittagong.

Pizza Hut opened its doors to the Bangladeshi market on the 6th of December, 2003 and ever since then it has been one of the most popular fast food outlets in Bangladesh.

Currently there are three outlets, two in Dhaka and one in Chittagong. The outlets in Dhaka are in the posh areas of Dhanmondi and Gulshan. While the one in Chittagong is situated at GEC Mor. Another 2/3 outlets are set to start operations soon. All foods served in the outlets in Bangladesh are halal. Pizza Hut Bangladesh has an annual all you can eat offer during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. The outlet in Gulshan has 220 seats and at 6000 sq ft. is one of the largest Pizza Huts on the Indian subcontinent.

Bulgaria

The first Pizza Hut outlet was opened in the capital Sofia near the National Football Stadium in June 1995. It became a hit and now there are more than 10 outlets in Bulgaria. Since 1996 Pizza Hut offers a Take Away service.

China

Pizza Hut in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China

The first Pizza Hut store in mainland China was opened on December 1, 1990 and still operates in the Dongzhimen area, Beijing. Pizza Hut is called 必胜客 (Pinyin:Bìshèngkè). In 1998 the first Shanghai store opened.

Currently, Pizza Hut has approximately 200 restaurants in China, including the first Mongolian language store in Hohhot and a Uyghur language store in Ürümqi, which both opened in 2005.

The 200 restaurants are located in more than 50 cities, such as almost all the provincial capitals and large cities such as Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Wuhan and Changsha. In China, Pizza Hut is marketed as a dine-in restaurant, serving sangria and escargot as well as the traditional pizza (including traditional toppings and others like tuna).

Hong Kong

Pizza Hut at Ocean Terminal, Hong Kong

The first Pizza Hut in Hong Kong was opened in 1981, in the basement of The Landmark (demolished in 2000 with the Landmark East portion of the complex). It currently has 54 restaurants over Hong Kong, 34 being "express" restaurants and 20 being full service restaurants

"Pizza Hut Hong Kong" is notable for its menu with half of the pizza selections that are thousand island sauce based. Also, along with pizza, pasta, lasagna and baked rice are equally emphasized in Hong Kong's Pizza Hut outlets.

Costa Rica

Pizza Hut opened it's first restaurant in San José in 1972. There are now 20 restaurants, 13 food court stands, and 4 mobile restaurants.

Egypt

Pizza Hut was and is a big hit in Egypt. It was one of the first fast food chains that opened in Egypt, after KFC & Wimpy, and before the arrival of McDonald's. It now has many outlets all over the country. Pizza Huts in Egypt serve Pan Pizza, Thin n' Crispy and Stuffed Crust, with all the toppings offered by its U.S. locations, but pork, ham and bacon are unavailable to comply with the Muslim majority. Pasta, salads and desserts were introduced in 2005. Before that Pizza Hut was only known for its pizzas, with few other choices. That was changed as a result of heavy competition with other pizza chains.

Germany

Pizza Hut located at Schildergasse 83, Cologne, Germany one of 4 locations in Cologne

Pizza Hut entered the German market as "Pepsi Food Services" in 1983. Currently, there are 70 locations throughout Germany (not counting the Pizza Hut locations on US military bases run by AAFES), German corporate headquarters are located in Düsseldorf. The first Pizza Hut opened in Frankfurt am Main in 1983. Pizza Hut employs approximately 2,600 people. Pizza Hut Germany consists of the traditional Pizza Hut restaurant with the full menu as well as Pizza Hut Express locations (found mostly in large train stations such as Cologne and Frankfurt) which sell Personal Pan Pizzas as well as pizza by the slice. Combined KFC/Pizza Hut locations are found in Augsburg, Bochum, Darmstadt, Frankfurt (Hauptwache), Hamburg, Kaarst, Cologne (Frankfurter Straße near Cologne/Bonn Airport) and Paderborn. These combined locations sell mainly KFC products with a limited Pizza Hut menu (similar selection as described in the Pizza Hut Express concept). The prices are the same across Germany.

Greece

Pizza Hut established itself in Greece in 1990. There are a total of 41 locations across Greece. They are located in: Athens (32 locations), Corfu (1 location), Crete/Heraklion (1 location), Patras (1 location), Rhodes (1 location), Thessaloniki (4 locations) and Zakinthos (1 location) (Source:[1]). Pizza Hut offers in Greece a variety of choices based on the local tastes, such as 'Greek Lover's pizza' and 'Cyprus Lover's pizza' with the first having feta cheese and the latter halloumi cheese among other ingredients.

India

Pizza Hut came to India in 1996 with a dine-in restaurant in Bangalore, that had special vegetarian pizzas. In addition to traditional toppings, it incorporates Indian favorite foods such as Chicken tikkas, Lamb korma and other dishes, in its list of innovative toppings. However, one would be hard pressed to find beef toppings since the cow is considered a sacred animal. No beef on the menu is to comply with the Hindu majority. Along with pizzas, the menu features appetizers such as garlic bread and soups, fresh salads, oven-baked pastas and choice of ice-cream sundaes. They have some American and Italian foods other than just Indian foods. They have pepperoni pizzas as well as cheese and the like. They have different types of meal orders such as the Four Course Menu. In the Four Course Menu you can get garlic bread (with or without cheese), a small bowl of soup (mushroom or tomato basil), a small personal pan and a dessert of mango ice cream.
Pizza Hut now has a presence in many Indian towns and cities.

Indonesia

In 1984, Pizza Hut opened its first restaurant in Jakarta , and it was the first pizza restaurant in Indonesia.
In addition to its regular toppings, Pizza Hut Indonesia also offers some local toppings and foods, such as rice and other traditional dishes.
All foods served by Pizza Hut are halal due to the Muslim majority in Indonesia.

Pizza Hut stand in Oslo Airport

Israel

In Israel, many Pizza Hut restaurants are kosher in order to accommodate popular religious dietary laws.

The popular slogan there is:

• Great pizza under one roof

Japan

Pizza Hut in Japan, run by KFC Japan Ltd., began its operations in 1991 with its first outlet in Myougadani, Tokyo. They currently serve pizza with "cheesy roll" crust, which contains cheese filled rolls made of crust surrounding the pizza. They also have the "sausage roll" pizza, which has a sausage baked in the crust. Specialty pizzas available include the "Crab & Shrimp Mayo King" (snow crab, shrimp, broccoli, onion, and corn), "Idaho Special" (diced potato, bacon, onion, corn, parsley, and black pepper), "Tuna Mild" (tuna, mayo, bacon, onion, and corn), "Seafood Mix" (shrimp, squid, tuna, mayo, broccoli, and onion), "Mayo Q" (BBQ chicken, mushrooms, onion, corn, nori), "Super Korean Burukogi" (bulgogi, garlic sprouts/shoots, and onion), "Mochi, Mentai & Potato" (shrimp, diced potato, tteok, corn, onion, mayo, and nori, with a mentaiko sauce) , and "Mochi & Shrimp Chili" (shrimp, tteok, garlic sprouts/shoots, and onion, with a shrimp and chili sauce), as well as some others.

Luxembourg

Luxembourg's first location opened in its capital on December 9th, 1987. A month later opened again in Luxembourg City the Gare (train station) location, which would finally close in June 2000. Two more locations were added on July 12th, 1994 and on August 13th, 1998. Today, there are 3 locations across Luxembourg: Luxembourg Ville (opened in 1987), Strassen (opened in 1994) and Beggen (opened in 1998). Luxembourg Ville and Strassen were built as typical European Pizza Hut locations, both buildings reflect more European characteristics than the typical American architectural counterparts. In stark contrast, Beggen was built as an American-style stand-alone, red roof Pizza Hut adjacent to a Texaco gas station. Pizza Hut's menu in Luxembourg reflects the standard offering found in most European locations (Pan Pizzas/Cheezy Crust) as well as specialized variations (Italian crust). (Source: Pictures and Location info)

Malaysia

In Malaysia, Pizza Hut offers toppings that do not contain pork to comply with the Muslim majority; many menu items replace pork with chicken. There are also different toppings that reflects the country's cuisine including satay, a Malaysian form of spiced meat similar to a Shish kebab.

Mexico

Pizza Huts are found throughout Mexico, including Acapulco and Mexico City, as well as other tourist destinations.

Typical location in Mexico, equipped with scooters for pizza delivery

Netherlands

Pizza Hut opened its first outlet in the Netherlands in 1973; it is still operating at the same location in The Hague. This outlet was the first Pizza Hut in Europe. Pizza Hut isn't that much of a success in the Netherlands: in 1997 there were about thirteen outlets, but as of 2007, there are only three locations left - The Hague, Scheveningen and Rotterdam. There also used to be five Pizza Hut Express counters at railway stations across the Netherlands. These have been taken over by New York Pizza (a big rival in the Netherlands). (Source: Pizza Hut Netherlands)

New Zealand

The first New Zealand Pizza Hut restaurant opened in New Lynn (Auckland) in September 1974 and has recently celebrated their 30th anniversary. There are currently over 100 Pizza Hut stores throughout New Zealand – made up of dine-in restaurants and new delivery and takeout ‘delco’ stores.

Pizza Hut New Zealand is franchised by New Zealand company Restaurant Brands, who also franchise other chains, most notably: KFC and Starbucks.

Pakistan

Pizza Hut first started operations in Pakistan by opening its first restaurant near Bank's Square on The Mall in Lahore. It then expanded to Karachi and Peshawar. The maximum number of Pizza Hut outlets are in the thickly populated city Karachi. Now it also has restaurants in Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Hyderabad, Quetta, Sialkot and Multan. The topping Chicken Tikka which is now used in franchises in India was first used in restaurants in Pakistan. The pizza served in Pakistan is Halal according to the Islamic law. Pizza Hut offers annually an "All you can eat" in the month of Ramadan, which is very popular in the country.

Peru

Pizza Hut started operations in Lima, in 1983. Now it has 35 restaurants in 5 cities.

Philippines

Pizza Hut opened its first restaurant in 1984, and now currently operating more than 130 dine-in restaurants, delivery units, express counters and six Pizza Hut Bistros throughout the Philippine archipelago. Most of the Pizza Hut franchises in the Philippines are located in shopping malls. The menu includes pizza, pasta, baked rice dishes and salads as well as garlic bread, steak fries, chicken wings, BBQ ribs and roast chicken.

Romania

Pizza Hut (aka S.C. American Restaurant System S.A.) has a total of 11 locations in the following cities: Bacau (1 location, inside METRO AG), Bucharest (4 locations), Cluj Napoca (2 locations, inside Iulius Mall Cluj and Polus Center Cluj), Constanta (2 locations), Iasi (1 location), Ramnicu Valcea (1 location) and Timisoara (1 location). Pizza Hut Romania's menu includes Pan Pizza, Classic and Thin 'n' Crispy crust pizzas, salads, pasta, appetizers (garlic bread, quesadillas) and desserts (cakes, brownies, mousse) as well as the Junior Menu (Pizza Junior & Dessert Junior) for kids.

Russia

In 1990, the first Pizza Hut location in Russia opened in Moscow on Gorkii Street in a location with a 3-floor, 400 seat dining area. A second location is on Ulitsa Pyatnitskaya ("5th Street").

The Saint Petersburg location is on Nevskii Prospekt, and has a 2-floor dining area.

The logo has been re-done in Cyrillic letters, but is readily identifiable as the Pizza Hut logo even to those who cannot read Cyrillic letters.

During the August coup in Russia which eventually led to the collapse of the Soviet Union, then-Russian SFSR president Boris Yeltsin famously ordered Pizza Hut for everyone barricaded in the Russian White House during the coup.

The highest-grossing Pizza Hut is located in Moscow.

Saudi Arabia

Pizza Hut has several branches across Saudi Arabia's major cities.

Serbia

In October 2003, Belgrade got its first Pizza Hut restaurant. The restaurant is situated in Makedonska Street 44 in the heart of Belgrade. This Pizza Hut offers pizzas, pastas, salads and starters, as well as coffee, cakes, and ice cream. In early 2004, Pizza Hut introduced Take–Away as a new service.

Singapore

In 1981, Pizza Hut opened its first restaurant in Singapore. There are currently more than 37 dine-in outlets in Singapore. Recently, breadsticks and baked rice and pasta has been available. The food is halal due to the Muslim minority in Singapore. They use turkey ham instead of the usual ham.

South Korea

thume

In 1985, Pizza Hut opened its first restaurant in Myeongdong, Seoul

Spain

Pizza Hut entered the Spanish market in 1980. Today, Pizza Hut Spain operates 130 locations across Spain including locations on the Balearic Islands. (Source: Pizza Hut Spain)

Sri Lanka

Pizza Hut in Sri Lanka is one of the first variety chain stores in the country. Currently Pizza Hut offers an online ordering system which delivers to the following outlets: Colombo, Negombo, Kandy, Kiribathgoda, Kotahena, Colpetty, Union Place, Rajagiriya, Havelock Rd., Malabe, Dehiwala, Nugegoda, Thalawathugoda, Moratuwa, Maharagama and Wattala. The Sri Lankan Pizza Hut is currently under new Indian mangagement. The former management was John Keels.

UK & Ireland

A Pizza Hut restaurant during the 2007 United Kingdom floods

With a recent change in the menu, there are now the following four types of bases available, Pan Pizza, "The Italian" (A more traditional style pizza), stuffed crust, and the "Cheesy Bites" pizza, previously available with triple cheese (mozzarella, cheddar and regarto), but now just mozzarella in the tear off crust. As of Monday 3rd December, Pizza Hut brought back the 4ForAll Pizza as part of their new menu.

In addition the menu offers a buffet; all you can eat "under terms and conditions", for pizza only or for a combination of pizza, pasta, and salad. The Pizza Hut in the UK was formerly owned by Whitbread.

It is also now possible to order pizzas over the internet.

As of September 2007, Pizza Hut are trialling a new delivery only format, PHQ, in Brighton. PHQ by Pizza Hut.

Vietnam

Pizza Hut was the third fast food chain to open for business in Vietnam after KFC and Lotteria. There are now 2 Pizza Hut restaurants in Ho Chi Minh city, one other will open soon in Big C Center, Hanoi.

Advertising

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Old advertisement for Pizza Hut's Pan Pizza

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Pizza Hut ad with the Muppets

File:Tv ad pizza hut muppets 2005.jpg

Pizza Hut "Dippin' Strips" ad

Pizza Hut's main advertising slogan is "Gather 'round the good stuff". Pizza Hut does not have an official international mascot, but at one time, there were commercials in the United States called 'The Pizza Head Show.' These commercials ran from 1993-1997 and were based loosely on the Mr. Bill shorts from Saturday Night Live in the 1970s. The ads featured a slice of pizza with a face made out of toppings called 'Pizza Head'. In Australia during the Mid to late 1990s, the advertising mascot was a delivery boy named Dougie, with boyish good looks who, upon delivering pizza to his father, would hear the catchphrase "Here's a tip, be good to your mother".

At one time in the 70's Pizza Hut had the signature red roof with a jolly man named "pizza Hut Pete" on there for advertising.. Pete was on the then bags, cups, balloons and hand puppets for the kids.

In 1994, Donald Trump and ex-wife Ivana Trump starred in a commercial. The ending of the commercial showed Ivana Trump asking for the last slice, to which Donald replied, "Actually dear, you're only entitled to half", a play on the couple's recent divorce.

In 1995, Ringo Starr starred in a Pizza Hut commercial which also featured The Monkees. Rush Limbaugh also starred in a Pizza Hut commercial the same year.

In 1997, former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev starred in a Pizza Hut commercial to raise money for the Perestroyka Archives. In recent years, Pizza Hut has had various celebrity spokespeople, including Jessica Simpson, the Muppets, and Damon Hill and Murray Walker. Recent commercials have Queen Latifah providing the voiceover. Also in 1997, Pizza Hut, reunited "greatest of all time boxer" Muhammad Ali with trainer Angelo Dundee in a sentimental made for Super Bowl commercial.

Talk show host, Jonathan Ross, co-starred in an ad with American model, Caprice Bourret. They were used to advertise the stuffed crust pizza, with Jonathan Ross saying "Stuffed Cwust", to which is a play on Jonathan's pronunciation of 'R's.

Another UK ad shows British Formula One driver Damon Hill visit a Pizza Hut restaurant and order a pizza, with famous F1 commentator Murray Walker visiting with him, and narrating as though it was a Formula One race. As Hill is about to finish his meal, Walker, in a play on Hill's 1994 & 1995 seasons, shouts "And Hill finishes second, again!" at which Hill grabs Walker by his shirt and shakes him angrily, Walker proclaiming, in his usual tones, "He's lost it! He's out of control!"

The 1990 NES game Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game, came with a coupon for a free pizza. The game was filled with Pizza Hut advertising and pizza that would refill the character's life.

Pizza Hut sponsored the first space pizza delivery in 2001, and paid for their logo to appear on a Russian Proton rocket in 2000.

In Australia, 2006 saw the introduction of a mascot in Pizza Hut's advertising - "Pizza Mutt", a small dog who delivers pizzas.

Early 2007 saw Pizza Hut move into several more interactive ways of marketing to the consumer. Utilizing mobile phone SMS technology and their MyHut ordering site, they aired several television commercials (commencing just before the Super Bowl) containing hidden words that viewers could type into their phones to receive coupons. Other innovative efforts included their "MySpace Ted" campaign, which took advantage of the popularity of social networking, and the burgeoning user-submission marketing movement via their Vice President of Pizza contest.

Sponsorship

• In the early 1990s, as part of PepsiCo's sponsorship of The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Pizza Hut was included in the acknowledgment alongside Taco Bell and KFC, which PepsiCo owned at the time.

• In 2000, Pizza Hut was a part-time sponsor of Galaxy Motorsports' #75 Ford in the then NASCAR Winston Cup Series, driven by Wally Dallenbach Jr.

• Pizza Hut was the shirt sponsor of English football club Fulham F.C. for the 2001-02 season.

• Terry Labonte drove selected events with Pizza Hut as the primary sponsor of his #44 car in 2005.

• Pizza Hut purchased the naming rights to Major League Soccer club FC Dallas' stadium, Pizza Hut Park, prior to its opening in 2005.

• In 2005, Pizza Hut sponsored The Simpsons on Channel 4 (UK). The adverts often contained the catchphrase "Who's called the Hut?" At the same time, due to a deal that started years earlier, Domino's Pizza sponsored The Simpsons on a different British TV station, Sky One.

Rayan Tall

• In March 2007, Pizza Hut partnered with Verizon Wireless to offer a free LG mobile phone with the purchase of a Cheesy Bites Pizza.

• In multiple Japanese anime, such as Code Geass and Darker than BLACK, Pizza Hut boxes, billboards, and various other advertisements can be seen in several episodes.

• Recent Pizza Hut television ads use the track "Can't Get Enough of You Baby" by pop rock group Smash Mouth.

• Pizza Hut is a sponsor of the Newcastle Vipers ice hockey team for the 2007/08 EIHL season in the UK.

Book It!

Pizza Hut has been a longtime sponsor of the "Book It!" program (started in 1984), which encourages reading in American schools. Those who read books according to the goal set by the classroom teacher are rewarded with Pizza Hut coupons good for a free Personal Pan Pizza or discounted menu items. In the late 1980s, Pizza Hut threw free pizza parties for classes if all students met their reading goals. The program has received criticism from some child development specialists, on grounds that the food and educational message provided to children is more harmful than helpful.

See also

• Domino's Pizza
• Little Caesar's
• Papa John's

External links

• Official site
• Directory of international websites