Pizza Hut "Classic" restaurants

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Pizza Hut "Classic" restaurants

Post by Brian Lutz »



While browsing on Instagram I saw the above post, which contains photos of a number of older standalone Pizza Hut locations that, along with the "debranding" back to the classic 1974 logo, have returned to older style decor from the 1980s with items such as the Tiffany style lamps over the tables and red checkered tablecloths from that era. Some restaurants have even added arcade games and other similar items. These restaurants designate themselves as "Pizza Hut Classic", and the author of the Instagram post says that he is aware of at least 12 of them so far. I can't imagine these would be too widespread because the number of remaining standalone Pizza Huts that are still, Pizza Huts seems to be rather low now, but given how much Pizza Hut seems to be leaning into this throwback branding in their advertising lately I could see this becoming more common in the increasingly rare sit down locations. After all it's not like they have much else in the way of branding to leverage...
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Re: Pizza Hut "Classic" restaurants

Post by Super S »

There is an old Pizza Hut like this in Longview, WA that has been there for many years. It had the old signage until a few years ago when they updated to the last logo. (And it was about a year before they cleaned up where the old roof signage was, they did not install new signage on the roof)

I can't comment on the inside of this one as I have not been inside there in many years. There are many better pizza options locally. They were advertising a pizza buffet right up until the pandemic hit in 2020, no idea if they still offer this.

Pizza Hut to me is one of those chains that is always "there" but doesn't really stand out. They seem to be confused about whether they should focus on carryout/delivery or dine-in.
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Re: Pizza Hut "Classic" restaurants

Post by cjd »

There are two of the older style Pizza Hut restaurants in my area, one which is in my town. It had a light redo a few years ago (around 2017/18 or so). It got new furniture, light fixture, carpeting and the buffet got updated at that point. Prior to that, I'm pretty sure it had the original furniture, other than the Wing Street tables and high chairs that were added whenever that debuted.

I don't believe it offers a buffet anymore, as it's not advertised and I'm leaning toward it probably not even offering anything except carry out. The parking lot is never that busy which indicates to me it's take out or delivery only.

In another town is another sit down style Pizza Hut, but it's a newer one from the 2000s. It is offering dine in according to the signs, but I see nothing about the buffet.

I do like the idea of these classic Pizza Hut elements coming back to those that still have the old style dine in format.
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Re: Pizza Hut "Classic" restaurants

Post by BillyGr »

cjd wrote: May 24th, 2022, 6:20 pm There are two of the older style Pizza Hut restaurants in my area, one which is in my town. It had a light redo a few years ago (around 2017/18 or so). It got new furniture, light fixture, carpeting and the buffet got updated at that point. Prior to that, I'm pretty sure it had the original furniture, other than the Wing Street tables and high chairs that were added whenever that debuted.

I don't believe it offers a buffet anymore, as it's not advertised and I'm leaning toward it probably not even offering anything except carry out. The parking lot is never that busy which indicates to me it's take out or delivery only.

In another town is another sit down style Pizza Hut, but it's a newer one from the 2000s. It is offering dine in according to the signs, but I see nothing about the buffet.

I do like the idea of these classic Pizza Hut elements coming back to those that still have the old style dine in format.
Seems that those places with existing tables could (even if they don't want to or have people to serve) still be offered, with people walking up to the counter to order and pick up when ready.
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Re: Pizza Hut "Classic" restaurants

Post by Alpha8472 »

Pizza Hut is bringing back the Detroit Style Pizza. It is a rectangular deep dish pizza. They had it back in 2021.
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Re: Pizza Hut "Classic" restaurants

Post by Super S »

Super S wrote: May 23rd, 2022, 9:11 am There is an old Pizza Hut like this in Longview, WA that has been there for many years. It had the old signage until a few years ago when they updated to the last logo. (And it was about a year before they cleaned up where the old roof signage was, they did not install new signage on the roof)

I can't comment on the inside of this one as I have not been inside there in many years. There are many better pizza options locally. They were advertising a pizza buffet right up until the pandemic hit in 2020, no idea if they still offer this.

Pizza Hut to me is one of those chains that is always "there" but doesn't really stand out. They seem to be confused about whether they should focus on carryout/delivery or dine-in.
An update to my post: The Longview Pizza Hut closed down sometime in the last few weeks. I heard rumors of this, and confirmed this when I drove by tonight and noticed all of the lights off and a big "AVAILABLE" sign out front. Honestly, this isn't a huge loss, although it's worth noting that this closure means that Pizza Hut no longer has a presence in Longview.
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Re: Pizza Hut "Classic" restaurants

Post by cjd »

Out of the 5 units I’m aware of in the tri county area, 2 closed the original red roof locations and moved into strip malls as carry out locations similar to Dominos, probably by 2019 or so.

The one in my town at least has retained the standalone building for whatever reason, but as far as I know still does not offer done in.

I don’t know why as it was always very popular along with the buffet and salad bar.

I think for the most part, Pizza Hut waitresses, along with the buffet and salad bar aren’t doing to make a comeback?

Could there be some that have brought back this stuff? Not sure.

I don’t know how PH got so mismanaged, but I think they’re a dying brand. They’ve somehow been overtaken by “cheap” options like Domino's and Little Caesars.

Most people I know get take out from either of those, I don’t even hear of family or coworkers even ordering from Pizza Hut anymore, yet many used to pick up pizzas there even as little as 4 years ago.

I still see a few cars coming and going from it making deliveries but I never seen more than one or two cars there picking up carry out.

It wasn’t that long ago that the parking lot was quite busy.

It’s sad, and I don’t know what happened. Talk about becoming irrelevant in 5 years or less.

My guess is when dine in and buffet options were dropped in 2020, this was the final mail in the coffin for them. At that point those things were all they had going for them vs the cheap carry out options.

They certainly don’t seem to be making any effort for a comeback.
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Re: Pizza Hut "Classic" restaurants

Post by BillyGr »

Just saw a posting that one of the few left locally (Catskill, NY) has closed (the post was talking about selling off the items like seating, buffets and more).

At this point, I'm not even sure where the next nearest one is, no less if they are the classic style or a newer one.
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Re: Pizza Hut "Classic" restaurants

Post by storewanderer »

Out in Reno, Pizza Hut has not had a great history. They did not grow with the area much in the 90's; new Round Tables opened all over town and there were few Pizza Huts. But a couple carry out only units did open, and are still open today. In the late 00's or 10's, a couple of new Pizza Huts opened in strip malls one with dine in and one carry out only. I never see much traffic at any of the local Pizza Huts. I rarely see ads for Pizza Hut. I have ordered from one of the carry out only locations a handfull of times... basically, the crust is just too oily and my impression is their cheese is not quite the best quality. I have been nauseated enough times after eating the pizza, to not really want to go back.

In my view Pizza Hut is in no worse shape than it has been for the last 20-30 years in my market. It has never had many locations, they have never been very busy, and there are a lot of other pizza options that people go to/talk about but nobody ever talks about Pizza Hut. I think the product is not good enough for people to go out of their way for, but also not so bad that nobody goes there and it fails. Marketing has also failed.

Broadly speaking I feel like KFC is also sort of a zombie brand similar to Pizza Hut. I do think the picture for both brands, especially KFC, is much brighter globally than it is in the US.
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Re: Pizza Hut "Classic" restaurants

Post by cjd »

Agree on that, KFC seems to be another of those “forgotten” brands at least where I am.

The location here seems somewhat dirty and just not much activity there.

I did go several times awhile ago when they were offering the $5 Fill Ups. The pot pie and 3 chicken tender meals were quite good for the price.

They also used to run some great deals in those weekly coupon mailers that used to come out. Haven’t noticed any of those in a while.

I don’t as surprised to see a brand new location open recently last year in a town that had lost its KFC several years before.
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