Pan pizza, hut-shaped red roofs, nostalgic red plastic cups — there are so many Pizza Hut staples that we all know and love. The restaurant has been around for seven decades and is the second-largest pizza chain in the world. Though it may be well known and well loved, do you know all there is to know about Pizza Hut, like its attempt to create the world’s largest pizza?
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Breaking Pizza Records
Pizza Hut and a team of chefs hope to break the Guinness world record for the largest pizza. The 14,101-square-foot pie covers a huge circle in the Los Angeles Convention Center. It’s made with 13,000 pounds of pizza dough squares, 5,000 pounds of tomato sauce, and more than 600,000 slices of pepperoni. A special portable oven hovers over it, cooking it bit by bit. After it’s done and documented for the record books, the giant pie’s 68,000 slices are to be donated to local food banks.
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A Humble Beginning
Pizza Hut is one of the biggest pizza chains in the world, but how did it come to be in the first place? Two brothers, Dan and Frank Carney, came up with the concept for the pizzeria while they were in college. To jumpstart their venture and open their first restaurant, they borrowed $600 from their mother — talk about a good investment.
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What’s In a Name?
There wasn’t a whole lot of free rein when settling on the name Pizza Hut. The signage for the restaurant had room for only eight letters, so the founding brothers were limited in their options.
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Pizza Reaching New Peaks
Have you ever given your address at the end of placing a pizza order for delivery and heard the dreaded, “I’m sorry, that’s outside of our delivery zone”? Pizza Hut broke that boundary in 2016 when a group of staff members hiked with experienced guides to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro with a pepperoni pizza in tow. The feat earned Pizza Hut a Guinness World Record for “highest altitude pizza delivery.”
Online Ordering Pioneers
Though ordering pizza online is now common, it wasn’t always an option. Pizza Hut was the first pizza restaurant to provide customers the ability to order online.
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Making Moves
The original Pizza Hut building is a 500-square-foot brick house that was uprooted from its original location and moved to Wichita State University’s campus in Kansas. Now a museum, the building houses memorabilia from the original restaurant and offers interactive displays. But no food is avaialble.
Aim for the Moon
When it comes to advertising, Pizza Hut has had a bit of a go-big-or-go-home mentality. In 1999, the pizza parlor wanted to use a laser to have its logo appear on the moon. The Hut’s bubble was burst upon discovering the logo would need to be the size of Texas in order to show up on the moon, which would have cost millions.
3-Wheeled Delivery
Before pizza delivery became expected, Pizza Hut delivered its first pizzas in Aggieville, Kansas, by way of a three-wheeled scooter. The concept for delivery caught on, but the vehicle of choice has changed.
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Pizza Perfume
Pizza Hut perfume started as a joke, but became a reality when Pizza Hut Canada’s Facebook page reached 100,000 fans. The fragrance harnesses the aroma of freshly baked, hand-tossed dough, so you can smell like a warm, just-opened box of pizza.
Out-Of-This-World Delivery
There is no challenge or journey too big for Pizza Hut. In 2001, the pizzeria delivered a pizza to the International Space Station after going through a rigorous process to maintain the pizza’s freshness.
Presidential Pizza
Thanks to former First Lady Barbara Bush, the White House has a spot on the list of impressive places where Pizza Hut has delivered food. In 1989, Bush hosted a charity event with more than 200 children and had Pizza Hut handle the catering.
Book It!
In 1984, Pizza Hut launched a campaign aimed at encouraging kids to read. The Book It! program offers free pizza to kids as an incentive for reading books. Going strong for almost four decades, Book It! reaches about 14 million children every year.
Pizza Pete
Ronald McDonald, Colonel Sanders, and Little Caesar are just some of the notable fast food mascots. But did you know that Pizza Hut used to have a mascot too? Pizza Pete was a cartoon man with a mustache wearing a chef’s hat, neckerchief, and apron. He served as the pizza parlor’s logo until 1969 when the iconic red roof logo was adopted.
International Inclusion
Pizza Hut’s humble beginning started in Wichita, Kansas. Today, the company has franchises in more than 100 countries.
Fast Franchising
The Carney brothers hit the ground running after they opened the first Pizza Hut location in Wichita, Kansas. They started to franchise within their first year of business, establishing a new restaurant in Topeka and six other locations.
Nothing Says Romance Like Pepperoni
Pizza is a love language, right? According to Pizza Hut, it is. In 2012, the pizzeria marketed an engagement package that included a fireworks show, limousine service, videographer, photographer, a ruby red ring, and flowers for $10,010. How could anyone say no to a proposal like that?
Easy Cheesy
There are plenty of tasty ingredients that go into creating Pizza Hut’s pizzas and one of the key components is cheese. The company uses more than 300 million pounds of cheese every year, making it one of the biggest consumers of cheese in the world.
Just Kidding!
In 2008, U.S. Pizza Huts sent out emails to subscribers advertising the pasta menu. In the email, the company announced its new name, Pasta Hut. But the marketing tactic was just an April Fools’ Day prank that lasted through the month.
Farm Fresh Ingredients
Pizza Hut has always made high-quality ingredients one of its top priorities. The company partners with farmers, sourcing all-natural ingredients through them. As an added bonus, since the business continues to thrive, Pizza Hut helps to support farmers through the partnership.
Pizza Hut to the Rescue
Escaping a hostage situation typically involves law enforcement intervention. But a woman who was being held hostage by her boyfriend ordered a pizza through Pizza Hut’s mobile app and added a note asking for help. The Pizza Hut crew notified the authorities immediately upon receiving the order and the woman safely escaped when the authorities came to deliver the pizza.
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