Author Topic: Why has PIZZA HUT gone down the toilet? (Read 15937 times)

mmarston · « **Reply #40 on:** December 08, 2008, 10:07:39 AM »

See the movie "Supersize Me" and you'll never want to eat in a fast food joint again.

Michael

JConk007 · « **Reply #41 on:** December 08, 2008, 11:02:37 AM »

MM,
Have you seen their latest offering "The PANORMOUS" their biggest pan yet a square football field of oily dough topped with pepperoni so thin it passes the window pane test

!
John
oh yeah I did eat there alot in the 80s and it tasted great with that endless big red cup of soda.

Mad_Ernie · « **Reply #42 on:** December 08, 2008, 03:59:03 PM »

Quote from: reddof on December 08, 2008, 01:12:42 AM

I worked at Pizza Hut from about 91-94. Somewhere in that range is when they switched to frozen dough. At first it was just the personal pan pizzas. This is what the store mostly sold during lunch and it was supposed to make it easier to do the morning prep work. Later they switched to frozen dough for the remaining sizes too. Also during that time they switched from weighing the ingredients to using portion cups. They claimed it allowed you to make the pizza faster. As Danny Ocean pointed out, if you got multiple ingredients then they would use less of each (use the next size smaller portion cup), but this had as much to do with their baking technique...if you loaded the pizza down with too much topping then the crust would come out raw.

I used to like their pizza alright. It was never the best, but living in Kansas City we didn't have a lot of choices. When they made these two changes their pizza really went downhill. The dough started picking up more of the oil and never tasted as good. I can't stand their pizza if it's been delivered. It's an oily, soggy mess. Hot out of the oven it's almost tolerable, but they phased out most of the dine-in business.

Reddof,

I live in the KC area and I have a friend who used to deliver pizzas for pizza hut, as well as occasionally work in the kitchen. He lived in Lawrence. I am thinking he told me PH had switched to frozen dough sometime around 1989-1990. I loved Pizza Hut as a kid. Sometime around the early 80's is when I think they started to lose their edge and move in to cost-cutting mode. Basically, once they had the pan pizza, it seems to me they began to lose interest in quality and it ALL became about the bottom line.

I never eat PH anymore, and I gave up on Domino's and Little Caesar's LONG ago. Jon hit it on the head. Fast-cheap-good: you can have 2 of the 3, but you can never have all 3.

-ME

reddof · « **Reply #43 on:** December 08, 2008, 06:23:33 PM »

Quote from: Mad_Ernie on December 08, 2008, 03:59:03 PM

I am thinking he told me PH had switched to frozen dough sometime around 1989-1990.

Now that I've thought about it a little more I was off on my dates, but not by that much. The restaurant I worked at switched in 1991 at the earliest, maybe 1992. I imagine they probably didn't make the switch all at once.

bphutchins · « **Reply #44 on:** December 09, 2008, 08:34:28 AM »

I don't know what the average age in this forum is but it seems somewhat older. I'm 30 and I can honestly say I haven't noticed any difference between a pizza hut pizza when I was 10 or a pizza hut pizza today. To me they're OK, nothing great, but not horrible either. Very greasy and salty, but filling and if there's enough sauce, decent. Now dominos on the other hand! I remember we would get that every once in awhile as a kid and maybe its just the fact that I was a kid, but I remember it being pretty good. Man that stuff is INEDIBLE now, only the thin crust is halfway palatable and even its gross. PapaJohn's is ok. The only "chain" that I think has really good pizza is Donatos and I think its somewhat localized.

Mad_Ernie · « **Reply #45 on:** December 09, 2008, 09:47:05 AM »

bphutchins,

The reason you probably haven't noticed any difference is 2-fold: 1) the biggest changes probably started to occur when you were no more than 5 years old; 2) most fast-food chains when they make changes generally do it gradually over years so the public won't notice, particularly when it comes to cutting quality items in their product, as opposed to launching a new product, such as a different crust or new topping.

I just realized what happened back in the early 1980's and why I thought Pizza Hut's quality began to change at that time - Frank Carney, one of the creators and founders of Pizza Hut in Wichita, sold his ownership to Pepsico at the time and left the business. It appears to me that once Frank was out, the corporate big wigs went in to cost-cutting mode to increase the profits and the stock value. The same thing happened to Godfather's, but their changes were more drastic when Pillsbury bought that business.

As far as chains go these days, my wife and I will occasionally get a Papa John's pizza, as it is the only one we can more than tolerate. We like their original crust - the thin is not all that great IMO. Other than that, it's pretty much local pizza establishments that we frequent when we order out.

I agree Donato's is good for a chain pizza, but as you pointed out, they are a regional chain and not available across the country. Yum! Brands has the monetary clout to market and blanket their product across the country, and they know who their biggest audience is: 13-year-old kids who think General Tso's chicken is an exotic, spicey dish.

Pizzacrazy7 · « **Reply #46 on:** February 02, 2009, 10:34:53 PM »

It's funny to find this posting. My wife's favorite pizza is Pizza Hut, my vote for second worst only behind Dominos for the worst pizza chain. So, sometimes I'm roped into eating Pizza Hut. The last time we were there was about 3 weeks ago and it was the grossest pizza to date, even to my wife! They must of ran out of their regular sauce because it tasted like...............well it was horrible. I dont know if they attemped to make a temporary sauce out of ketchup and oregano or what but it was bad. The whole family felt ill after eating the little that we did eat. At least my wife is kind of ruined on it now so we can have descent pizza next time. I agree too with others on here that the recipes/ingredients have changed over the years. I actually used to like Pizza Hut as a kid as well, and as I've gotten older, there definately HAVE been changes and some VERY recently. I guess what do you expect when it IS about bottom line and MONEY, MONEY, MONEY, not quality.

Pete-zza · « **Reply #47 on:** February 02, 2009, 10:42:46 PM »

Tony,

Pizza Hut is part of YUM Brands, which has about 36,000 restaurants in over 110 countries. This means having to find ways to standardize everything they do for each separate business to keep profits flowing. If you want to see what Pizza Hut is using in its doughs and sauces, take a look at this document: http://www.pizzahut.com/Files/PDF/ph_ingredients.pdf.

Peter

Pizzacrazy7 · « **Reply #48 on:** February 02, 2009, 11:03:28 PM »

Peter,
Very interesting info. Where do you find these things?! Anyway, I suppose 36,000 restaurants would be quite a task but I dont know what happened there lately. Before it was tolerable, but it's gotten bad lately. Thanks for all the info though, you definately know where to find all the specs on these places. You do your homework.

Pete-zza · « **Reply #49 on:** February 02, 2009, 11:45:21 PM »

Tony,

I was recently reading an article about how the fast food chains have been holding up relatively well in the poor economy as diners move toward lower cost meals. The 36,000 figure I mentioned is for all of the YUM stores, not just Pizza Hut. The others are KFC, Taco Bell, A&W, Long John Silver's, and Wing Street. I was hoping to show you an older PH ingredients list for its pizza products before they went to frozen dough and using a lot of chemicals but the document apparently is no longer on the Internet. Fortunately, I printed it out before it disappeared.

Peter

Jose L. Piedra · « **Reply #50 on:** February 03, 2009, 11:27:10 AM »

I suppose the industrial-type pizza chains are facing some pretty stiff competition from the burger joints right now, particularly for the dollar of those consumers who need a quick dinner right now and are pretty elastic with respect to the type of food, but much less so about the price. But they're going to have to cut even more corners than they already have in order to bring prices down to where they can convince the man in a hurry not to just give it up and get the sack of burgers at a time when MacDonald's will sell you a double cheeseburger for $1.39. Meanwhile, the number of customers looking to buy pizza as a treat will dwindle as they come to realize how shockingly bad the quality has become.

The real tragedy of the piece is that formerly artisanal, mom-and-pop type places are adopting industrial techniques and methodologies (frozen ingredients, conveyor ovens, etc.) at a rate that makes it a safe bet that any such place that hasn't done so already simply hasn't gotten around to it yet. It has effectively become impossible to get an American-style pizza of quality around here, and I'm sure the situation is pretty much the same in other major cities (and for the same reasons). Oh well- I'm just gonna learn to make them myself at home...

-JLP

Deacon Volker · « **Reply #51 on:** February 03, 2009, 12:02:02 PM »

As a Pizza Hut employee in a former life all I can say is, "true true". It's not only the dough that has been cheapened over the years, but also the meats and other toppings that even 30 years ago were processed soy-laden excuses for sausage. I am at least "interested" to see what effect if any their new pledge toward "healthy" ingredients will mean.

And please, don't knock conveyor ovens if you haven't tried them. Like everything in life not all is created equal. The conveyors, when used properly, set up properly, are turning out pies that are on par with the finest decks.

Villa Roma · « **Reply #52 on:** February 03, 2009, 12:16:09 PM »

Pizza Hut= Dog Food!!!!

Mad_Ernie · « **Reply #53 on:** February 03, 2009, 12:19:52 PM »

Quote from: Villa Roma on February 03, 2009, 12:16:09 PM

Pizza Hut= Dog Food!!!!

That's cruelty to animals.

Jake77 · « **Reply #54 on:** February 03, 2009, 06:16:18 PM »

Is Pizza Hut that bad now? I don't know. I have maybe ordered 10 pizzas in the last 15 years. After working at a local pizza joint for 5 years I never felt right about buying from a chain. Kind of like I won't go to an Applebee's when I know I can get a cold beer and good burger at the local bar and grill without paying for a name brand or any of that or do the same on my own grill. I mean I am from a small town, they put in a little caesars and it hammered our business it is still open all these years later but the local guy was forced to start being chincier in order to compete with the chains prices which equals pizza that sucks now. When I worked there it was good it's still homemade but not as good you know what I mean? Glad I learned all about how to do it myself back then I don't have to depend on others if I want a pizza.

BTW I made my Steak + Cheese Pizza for the Super Bowl first time in about 9 years and it was a little better than before with just a little help from PizzaMaking.com no major changes just more of a buiscuit style crust I felt like it complimented the meat better than my standard American style dough. Wife wants it on next months menu, if I can take a picture of it without feeling embarrased I may put it here up for you. LOL

s00da · « **Reply #55 on:** February 03, 2009, 06:24:37 PM »

I've seen them use a spray can to apply something on the pizza edges. Didn't know what it was or do to the pizza actually but I did notice that the crust lacked color when it came out of the oven.

Jake77 · « **Reply #56 on:** February 03, 2009, 06:43:38 PM »

I don't know but I used to have a customer that had me brush melted butter on the edges of the thick crust pizza they always ordered they liked the flavor might be a cheaper way of doing that?

Pete-zza · « **Reply #57 on:** February 03, 2009, 07:01:33 PM »

Quote from: s00da on February 03, 2009, 06:24:37 PM

I've seen them use a spray can to apply something on the pizza edges. Didn't know what it was or do to the pizza actually but I did notice that the crust lacked color when it came out of the oven.

saad,

From Reply 5 at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,4067.msg33990.html#msg33990:

Spray the outer 1" of the crust with Food Release once. This helps to: a.) allow the dough to rise uniformly and b.) give it a nicer appearance after baking.

Peter

Essen1 · « **Reply #58 on:** February 03, 2009, 07:18:57 PM »

Villa,

I wouldn't even feed my dog a pizza hut slice.

Pizzamaster · « **Reply #59 on:** April 15, 2011, 05:41:05 AM »

This is an old thread but deserves revisiting as there is a lot of misinformation here. I was a manager there for many years. Pizza Hut began changing in 1989 when they stopped making fresh dough and went to what we called Premix. But the freefall really started in the 90's when they removed the Hobart mixers and started shipping the dough in premade frozen pucks that we thawed and proofed. Shortly after that they went to what was called 'Chunky Style'. Toppings like onions and peppers were changed over to big hunks versus the small finely chopped items. The onions also were changed from white to red. This changed the whole flavor profile. From then on the pizza was no longer recognizable. The old days are gone.