Pizza Hut is finally selling slices — with a twist.
The fast-food chain is rolling out two new menu items that allow customers to customize their pizzas — both in store and online — to look exactly how they would like them to look, and even to put toppings on the pizzas they’re ordering.
The company says the new additions are an authentic take on the franchisee system, which it says was built with one purpose and one purpose only: to maximize profits.
“When we’re developing an item, we want it to fit our company the way we want it to fit our customers,” Pizza Hut CEO and cofounder Dave Dickey said in an interview with USA TODAY on Friday. “We’ve gone from being a little bit of a novelty, when they were buying pizza by the pound, to being known for ordering this. It’s just become a part of how our customers think about us.”
The chain, which has long operated by franchise agreements, is offering new slices at 5:30 a.m. on the morning of Sunday, Nov. 20, in the states of Washington, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Maine, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Connecticut, and by 4 p.m. in the states of Oregon, New York and Massachusetts, according to Pizza Hut.
Customers who order one of the new slices, which can be ordered online and in store, will be able to place a sticker on their pizza that says “My order is customizable” or “Customize to look like what I ordered.” Pizza Hut says the new slices — which will be marked with the Pizza Hut logo and other Pizza Hut branding — will give customers the same pizzazz they’re used to when they opt to order from Pizza Hut’s retail store and use its on-site delivery and carry out services.
Customizable slices are a departure for Pizza Hut, which has long provided an unadulterated slice for customers to buy in an average of 60 million pizza slices every day, according to Pizza Hut. In 2013, Pizza Hut had a 24 percent increase in revenue, from $1.4 billion to $1.7 billion, in its first full year as a public company, and Dickey said the company wanted to continue seeing its success through a different lens.
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