Ok, not that I’m a marketing genius, but I simply don’t get the dumping of a brand name that has been around for decades or longer. Oh, I read the puff pieces on how a particular company (Pizza Hut, Radio Shack, Ask Mr. Foster) justified the change (update?), but I still don’t get it.
Perhaps it is another reflection of the dumbing down of America, perhaps we’re only capable of remembering or uttering one word brand names. Perhaps in our future, we’ll see “King”, and “Us”, and “Bell”, and “Chicken” (or “Kentucky”).
In any case, companies are doing it, and Pizza Hut is now simply “The Hut,” they say to reflect their ever expanding menu. Alrighty.
In my burg yesterday, the “Hut” was offering two medium pies, each with one topping (or make is a specialty for a dollar more), plus five bread sticks for $13.99. That’s a pretty good deal, even for a kind of pathetic product. (I have my own theory that Yum brands don’t care about the quality of price points of their product, since they just really want to sell the soft drinks). (Doesn’t Coke still outsell Pepsi at fountains despite Yum? I think so.)
I ordered online, thin and crispy crust meat lovers for me, original hand tossed cheese for Mrs BurgerDogBoy (she rarely eats pizza, but I thought last nite she might), and the email response was that they would be delivered in 30 minutes. I was in such a hurry to get off line, I forgot to order their Papa John’s imitation dipping sauces, which I do like.
I happened to be near the living room window at the appointed time, and watched the driver go by my house, try to deliver them to the next door neighbor, throw the pies back in the car, go to the next house and try to deliver them their, throw them back in the car, and then he called me to tell me he was at my front door and I wasn’t answering. I responded by telling him he was two houses away, and he should just back down the street. He choose to go up the block, turn around, and came to deliver them. My $13.99 order came to $19.54 with delivery (not including tip), and I took the pies inside, put them on the kitchen table, opened the boxes, and rearranged the slices which were all kitty-wampus from the jostling in the car. No matter, Pizza the Hut bakes their pies in such a way that ingredients don’t fly off (much, notice the pile of sausage in the corner of the box).
My better two thirds went to work on her cheese pie, making it more palatable by adding crushed red pepper flakes, dashes of Tabasco, and Parmesan. I ate mine “au natural” and it was ok, just ok, no better or worse than any other inexpensive delivery places nearby (my Domino’s has gone out of business for the second time in a year).
I really do like Pizza the Hut’s crispy crust, but the cheese, sauce, and meats are pretty nondescript, tho occasionally, I do find a fennel seed, which is an important ingredient for me.
I can usually pretty much polish off a large by myself, this was only a medium, I ate less than half, because it had been a big eating day. I sampled the bread sticks, which of course are strips of pizza dough baked, but I was sucked into them when my wife said they were coated with butter deliciousness. And so they were.
For some reason, Pizza the Hut products seem (to me) to absorb the taste of the delivery boxes, so everything has a slightly cardboard undertone.
But I’ll order again. There aren’t many delivery places out my way. And once and awhile, when it comes to pizza, even mediocre is better than nothing.