Thanks, John, for writing a first hand account of the problems independent pizzerias are experiencing at present.
Unfortunately, I am not clear by what you mean by Pizza Hut being ahead of the curve.
I don't know how good or bad the Pizza Hut locations, both full service dine in and the smaller delivery/carry out locations are in your neck of the woods. But locations of some franchisees like NPC International and ADF Companies turn out a terrible product. As I have written above, the dine in locations they are trying to close have no dine-in customers. For dine-in customers, they are basically serving frozen pizza but charging legitimate independent pizzeria prices. The discounts are on delivery and carry out. The Pizza Huts around here are dying, while new dine-in locations from chains like Mod Pizza, Pieology, &pizza, Blaze Pizza, and Rise Pies are opening.