Pizza Hut Steps Up To The Competition

Whatever happened to plain cheese pizza?

Well, Pizza Hut still has those, but they’ve also been releasing some strange alternate flavors as well.

Directly in competition with fast food pizzerias like Papa John’s and Domino’s, Pizza Hut has been long in need of some fresh new ideas for their menu. Papa John’s isn’t lacking for creativity and Domino’s seems to come out with something new every month. Pizza Hut has remained mostly classic; as classic as fast-food pizza can get, anyway.

Finally, Pizza Hut is stepping up to the competition.

Their menu recently got an overhaul that brought in a few new options; if you define “a few” to mean almost half a full menu. With brand-new crust, sauce, drizzle and topping options, Pizza Hut might well pull ahead of the pizza race yet.

Their new pizza crusts include toasted parmesan, salted pretzel, honey sriracha, toasted asiago, fiery red pepper, toasted cheddar, garlic butter, curry and ginger.

Some of the crusts, such as the parmesan, asiago and garlic butter, are relatively normal to see on a pizza menu. Others, like the ginger and curry crusts, could easily catch a pizza lover off guard at the same time that it tempts them.

Pizza Hut’s new sauce options are crushed tomato, creamy garlic parmesan, honey sriracha, barbecue and buffalo, while the new drizzle options include balsamic, buffalo, honey sriracha and barbecue.

Pizza Hut is a little late to the game with most of it sauces. Fast-food pizzerias have been working with barbecue and buffalo sauce for a while now. Sauces like the honey sriracha, however, are a big draw to some of their younger customers who’ve fallen in love with the garlic-based pepper sauce.

Finally, they’ve added some new topping options: salami, seasoned pork, anchovies, hardwood-smoked bacon, banana peppers, diced Roma tomatoes, Peruvian cherry peppers and fresh spinach.

Toppings are where Pizza Hut really seems to have pulled ahead in the game. Seasoned pork and anchovies are difficult topping finds even in the best pizzerias in the heart of New York City. Seeing them on a Pizza Hut menu will likely draw in more customers.

For fans of Pizza Hut in Australia, the chain has stepped it up even more, jumping on the Doritos bandwagon.

First there was Dewitos (Dorito-flavored Mountain Dew) now there’s Pizza Hut’s Doritos Crunchy Crush Pizza. A relatively basic pizza, with the customer’s choice of topping, the mozzarella-stuffed crust is topped with nacho cheese Doritos and cheddar cheese.

Pizza Hut is sure that their new menu will pull them ahead in the pizza race. What do you think?

[ Image courtesy of Pizza Hut ]