Author Topic: Why has PIZZA HUT gone down the toilet? (Read 16131 times)

lilbuddypizza · « **Reply #20 on:** August 28, 2006, 01:01:35 PM »

Back in 1975-79, I really liked Pizza Hut. I knew it wasn't the best, but it WAS good. Better than any frozen at least. Nowadays, PH's thin and crispy is about as close to their original crust as it gets.
Oddly enough, I was in the Keys last week and had a pizza from PH in Marathon. I gotta say, it was the best PH pizza I had in 20+ years, and not bad overall. believe it or not!

DNA Dan · « **Reply #21 on:** August 28, 2006, 04:36:27 PM »

Quote from: Harv on August 28, 2006, 06:53:14 AM

I don't know why we all bother with this homeade pizza thing. We could all be driving around eating our pizza flavored Hotpockets complete with authentic mozzarella flavored processed cheese food product.

You mean diarrhea pockets

cookoo · « **Reply #22 on:** December 17, 2006, 08:02:51 PM »

I ordered 2 medium pizzas from PH online and 5 mins later I get a call that they were out of medium crusts and that I could only get large crusts at no additional price and sorry for the inconvenience. It never crossed my mind EVER that their crusts were already made and frozen! Gross! I have noticed in all my orders that the pizzas are too hard, have very little topping ingredients and the service terrible. I feel ripped off and I don't ever want to purchase their pizzas again.

loch · « **Reply #23 on:** December 18, 2006, 12:49:43 PM »

lilbuddypizza reminded me of a trip in the mid '70s (stop laughing you youngsters!) when my wife and I started off in Illinois with a very good Pizza Hut pizza, got one in Wisconsin that was not so good and stopped back at the same place in Illinois. We got to talk to the manager in Illinois and she actually knew the owner of the Wisconsin shop. She told us that the difference in crust was that she had gas ovens firing the conveyor and the person in Wisconsin had chosen to go with electric heat in the ovens. Flame broiled?

Dave

LabRat · « **Reply #24 on:** December 21, 2006, 05:16:42 PM »

I worked at Pizza hut in the mid 80's. All dough was made fresh every morning then portioned, rolled (pan or "thin and crispy" only at that time), panned and put in the walk-in for use later in the day. Since most pizzerias use retarded dough formulas that take a long time to develop, it is possible for shops using fresh dough to run out of a particular size crust if the manager didn't forecast demand properly (although I haven't set foot in a Pizza Hut in over a decade, so I can't say what they are doing now). As for Papa John's, a friend of mine was assistant manager at a store and told me that the dough came in as frozen, pre-portioned balls and was supposed to sit in the walk-in for three days prior to use. The long, cold ferment is what gave their dough its flavor.

kling · « **Reply #25 on:** December 21, 2006, 05:54:04 PM »

Quote from: LabRat on December 21, 2006, 05:16:42 PM

The long, cold ferment is what gave their dough its flavor.

That's funny, I've left my dough in the fridge for 3+ days and it never resulted in a cardboard-like flavor. (A dig at Papa Johns, not you, LabRat.)

Pete-zza · « **Reply #26 on:** December 21, 2006, 06:12:46 PM »

Quote from: LabRat on December 21, 2006, 05:16:42 PM

As for Papa John's, a friend of mine was assistant manager at a store and told me that the dough came in as frozen, pre-portioned balls and was supposed to sit in the walk-in for three days prior to use. The long, cold ferment is what gave their dough its flavor.

I don't know about PJ's doughs in the 80s, but according to http://www.papajohns.com/pizza_story/dough.htm, the dough balls that the PJ stores use are fresh, not frozen. I think it has been that way for many years.

Peter

canadave · « **Reply #27 on:** December 21, 2006, 06:27:41 PM »

Hmmmm...actually, Pete, the quoted article says the dough balls are *shipped* to each store fresh. But there's nothing to say those stores can't turn around and freeze the dough balls after receiving them, is there?

Pete-zza · « **Reply #28 on:** December 21, 2006, 06:32:24 PM »

Dave,

Once the dough balls get into the hands of the store operator, anything can happen. It is not at all uncommon for operators to ignore the recommended procedures for handling the dough balls beyond that point. They will use dough balls that are cold, jack up the conveyor temperatures and speeds, or do whatever else they feel is necessary to get the pizzas out of the door, especially when they are being slammed.

Peter

LabRat · « **Reply #29 on:** December 21, 2006, 06:40:05 PM »

Kling,

Dig all ya want, I've got a thick skin!

I'm actually not a big fan of PJs pizza, but I did eat a lot of it in college because my friend would hook me up with "manager specials" all the time and I was just a poor student. Now that I'm older and wiser (well, older) and live in a pizza town like Chicago, I've got my choice of really GOOD pies!

Pete-zza,

I am only going by what my friend at PJs told me about 18-20 years ago. Since that time, I have consumed vast quantities of barley based beverages, so my recollection may not be exact. It may be that the dough balls were cooled down in a blast chiller at the commissary which made them look frozen to him when they arrived.

D.B.Cooper · « **Reply #30 on:** December 21, 2006, 08:25:51 PM »

Pizza hut always made me sick. I think it is something they add to the pies. Around '92 I told my roommate they always get me sick and I will not eat them. One night He convinced me to go with him and by the time we were n the car I hurled in the parking lot. Never again!

SemperFi · « **Reply #31 on:** January 13, 2007, 03:49:49 PM »

Pizza Hut has gone south. There was a time that it was a nice change to eat at, or if you were unlucky enough to live in an area that didn't have a decent pizzeria, it would suffice. But these days, after a slice or two, you would have to incorporate a gag reflex factor with each additional bite. And Lordy Lordy, remember going out to actually eat there. At one time it was decent dining, not haute cuisine, but decent and special. Now, YOU DO sink into the torn vinyl booth, wait a ridiculous time for a nasty, gummy, oil laden pizza, served onto scratched plates, and drink out of the same off orange plastic cups that the Brady family might have used in their sitcom. The prices are a totally different subject when you are talking about 30 bills for 2 pizzas. Hell, even in my drunk Marine Corps days, we knew enough to not order Pizza Hut. And as for Papa Johns, they have to have some of the dirtiest workers I have ever seen working there. My stomach flip flopped when I saw a worker, who was tossing a dough, put it down to do register work. Handle filthy money, then go right back to the dough. No sanitation whatsoever. But man, that garlic oil they serve. I think that there must be some liquid crack in there or something. I love that stuff.

arabpizzalover · « **Reply #32 on:** November 19, 2008, 03:14:03 AM »

Quote from: captain-insano on April 03, 2005, 10:16:08 PM

As for Papa Johns they are not bad in a pinch. However that fresh ingredients thing is a joke. I got the person working there to admit that the dough comes in frozen like pizza hut. Fortunately I have found the Holy Grail of pizza making (Pizzamaking.com) and no longer need them! You know someone could open up restaurants and use these conglomos original ideas and make a fortune. IE Pizza Hut McD's and such.

I'm not big on Chain Pizzas but I'll take Papa John's any day over Pizza Hut.

BroccoliRob · « **Reply #33 on:** November 19, 2008, 08:56:57 AM »

There is a PH "Bistro" near me and once in a while I do get the urge to go to the lunch buffet. It's cheap, and variety is nice. I haven't gotten their carryout in years. PapaJohn's on the other hand I just have vowed to never eat again.

johnnytuinals · « **Reply #34 on:** November 19, 2008, 09:27:56 PM »

Geeeee I used to Buy small personal size Pizza hut pizzas witha topping on it,,,they were very good.
I tryed a PaPa johns once when they opened a store near me and I thought it was not that good at all.
Now I used to enjoy Dominos Pan Pizza,,,,yummmmm it tasted great with topping on it.
But for the last 2 or 3 years the Dominos Pan Pizzas looks like they are all pre made dough and they don't taste as they used to in the early 90s....
I am glad I found this site and have not bought a pizza since I started 9 months ago....
And I am sure non are useing Grande Chesse yummmmmmmm.

Pete-zza · « **Reply #35 on:** November 19, 2008, 09:53:30 PM »

Pizza Hut still uses fresh dough but mainly outside of the U.S. In the U.S., PH has gone to frozen dough for most of its pizzas. Both Domino's and Papa John's use fresh dough that is delivered to their stores two or three times a week but, from what I can tell from looking at nutrition information, Domino's dough contains a lot more additives than the PJ dough. None of the above chains uses Grande.

Peter

johnnytuinals · « **Reply #36 on:** November 19, 2008, 10:27:11 PM »

Yea Yea Yea I didnot think any of these places use Grande lol,,,Glad I am 1 step ahead of these places that I use a better chesse.
As for Dominos Pan pizza,,It looked like they took one of the Doughs from a bag of many.
It looked like they were pre made or delivered that way.
I know Doninos made a much better Pan Pizza in the early 90s.....I am sure
dominos use fresh dough on their pizzas,,,but when it comes to pan,it looks like when they were making mine.They came out of a plasic bag pre made...
This site is soooo very helpful
I rather make my own pizza for alot less and mine taste better then may of the locals,,,now I need a great sauce...Jt

johnamus · « **Reply #37 on:** December 04, 2008, 06:23:53 PM »

I was a pizza hut delivery driver for a summer during college and they were making their own fresh dough every morning. This was in St Louis during 2004.

reddof · « **Reply #38 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.

Cookoo made the comment about running out of dough and getting upgraded to the next size. This was common practice even before going to the frozen dough. We made dough at least twice per day, but it required enough time that if you ran out then you were stuck. The frozen dough didn't make this any worse or better.

They keep producing crap, but people keep buying it. It's the only choice in a lot of markets, and especially the only one that delivers. They keep coming up with all new gimmick pizzas in order to draw people back. They know they are bleeding but in the interest of reducing costs they can't produce a quality pizza.

Jackitup · « **Reply #39 on:** December 08, 2008, 06:29:59 AM »

I don't consider Pizza Hut or Domino's good pizza anymore than I consider McDonald's or Burger King a good hamburger. They are fast food joints. Good food comes from higher end places or done at home, never been a fan of fast food myself. I'd rather spend the money at a decent place for good food or as I said, have fun at home doing it right. Once in a blue moon the junk food places are ok, but just once in awhile.
Jon