🔗 Share this article

Once, the popular pizza chain was the top choice for groups and loved ones to indulge in its eat-as-much-as-you-like offering, endless salad selection, and ice cream with toppings.

Yet fewer customers are visiting the restaurant these days, and it is reducing half of its British restaurants after being acquired following financial trouble for the second time this year.

“We used to go Pizza Hut when I was a child,” says one London shopper. “It was a regular outing, you'd go on a Sunday – turn it into an event.” Today, in her mid-twenties, she says “it's no longer popular.”

According to 23-year-old Martina, the very elements Pizza Hut has been recognized for since it launched in the UK in the 1970s are now outdated.

“The way they do their buffet and their salad bar, it feels like they are lowering standards and have inferior offerings... They provide so much food and you're like ‘How can they?’”

As ingredient expenses have soared, Pizza Hut's buffet-style service has become quite costly to maintain. The same goes for its locations, which are being sliced from over 130 to just over 60.

The business, like many others, has also seen its expenses increase. In April this year, employee wages increased due to higher minimum pay and an higher rate of employer social security payments.

A couple in their thirties and twenties explain they would often visit at Pizza Hut for a date “occasionally”, but now they choose a rival chain and think Pizza Hut is “not good value”.

According to your selection, Pizza Hut and Domino's prices are close, explains a food expert.

Even though Pizza Hut does offer off-premise options through third-party apps, it is losing out to major competitors which solely cater to off-premise dining.

“Another pizza company has succeeded in leading the takeaway pizza sector thanks to strong promotions and frequent offers that make customers feel like they're saving money, when in reality the standard rates are on the higher side,” explains the specialist.

Yet for the couple it is worth it to get their special meal brought to their home.

“We absolutely dine at home now more than we eat out,” explains one of the diners, matching recent statistics that show a drop in people going to casual and fast-food restaurants.

In the warmer season, casual and fast-food restaurants saw a six percent decline in patrons compared to last summer.

Additionally, another rival to pizza from eateries: the frozen or fresh pizza.

A hospitality expert, senior partner at a leading firm, explains that not only have retailers been providing good-standard oven-ready pizzas for a long time – some are even selling pizza-making appliances.

“Lifestyle changes are also contributing in the popularity of fast-food chains,” states the expert.

The rising popularity of high protein diets has driven sales at poultry outlets, while reducing sales of carb-heavy pizza, he adds.

Since people visit restaurants less frequently, they may seek out a more premium experience, and Pizza Hut's classic look with vinyl benches and red and white checked plastic table cloths can feel more old-fashioned than luxurious.

The rise of high-quality pizzerias” over the last 10 to 15 years, including new entrants, has “dramatically shifted the general opinion of what excellent pie is,” says the culinary analyst.

“A crisp, airy, digestible pizza with a few choice toppings, not the massively greasy, heavy and overloaded pizzas of the past. This, in my view, is what's caused Pizza Hut's struggles,” she comments.

“What person would spend a high price on a tiny, mediocre, unsatisfying pizza from a large brand when you can get a gorgeous, skillfully prepared classic pizza for less than ten pounds at one of the many authentic Italian pizzerias around the country?

“It's a no-brainer.”

An independent operator, who runs a small business based in Suffolk comments: “The issue isn’t that fallen out of love with pizza – they just want better pizza for their money.”

He says his flexible operation can offer premium pizza at affordable costs, and that Pizza Hut had difficulty because it could not keep up with changing preferences.

At an independent chain in a UK location, the proprietor says the industry is diversifying but Pizza Hut has failed to offer anything innovative.

“Currently available are slice concepts, London pizza, New Haven-style, sourdough, traditional Italian, Detroit – it's a wonderful array for a pie fan to explore.”

The owner says Pizza Hut “must rebrand” as newer generations don't have any emotional connection or attachment to the chain.

Gradually, Pizza Hut's share has been divided and distributed to its trendier, more nimble competitors. To sustain its costly operations, it would have to increase costs – which experts say is difficult at a time when household budgets are decreasing.

The leadership of Pizza Hut's overseas branches said the rescue aimed “to protect our guest experience and protect jobs where possible”.

The executive stated its key goal was to keep running at the open outlets and off-premise points and to support colleagues through the transition.

Yet with significant funds going into maintaining its outlets, it probably cannot to spend heavily in its off-premise division because the market is “complicated and partnering with existing delivery apps comes at a expense”, experts say.

Still, experts suggest, reducing expenses by exiting crowded locations could be a effective strategy to adapt.