Pizza Hut’s Detroit Double Pepperoni Pizza
pizza Hut
Pizza Hut jumps on the trend of Detroit-style pan pizzas as it continues its turnaround in 2021 after last year’s strong sales growth.
Starting Tuesday, the Yum Brands chain will be selling four different Detroit-style pizza varieties for a limited time, with prices starting at $ 10.99.
Detroit-style pizza is characterized by its rectangular shape, thick crust, edge-to-edge cheese, and tomato sauce covering the cheese and other toppings. The pizza has grown in popularity over the past decade as Michiganders opened pizzerias elsewhere in the US. Privately owned and headquartered in Detroit, Little Caesars was the first national pizza chain to bring the trend to the masses in 2013.
Buddy’s Pizza is credited with making the dish 75 years ago, using blue steel pans from the local auto factories. In 2018, CapitalSpring, a private equity firm specializing in restaurant brands and franchisees, invested an undisclosed amount in Buddy’s to help it capitalize on the trend by expanding nationwide.
“Detroit-style pizza is the fastest growing trend in pizza,” said David Graves, Pizza Hut US chief brand officer. “It is no longer a Midwestern only thing.”
He added that the Pizza Hut customers expect the chain to give their own take on food trends and asked for a Detroit-style pizza.
“I’ve never seen our franchisees so excited for a launch,” said Graves.
The chain has spent over a year perfecting its own version and has even created a new tomato sauce that will only be used on that type of pizza.
The Detroit Double Pepperoni contains 80 slices of pepperoni, more than half of which are bowl-shaped pepperoni. The Double Cheesy pizza offers two types of cheese, while the Meaty Deluxe comes with bacon, Italian sausage, and bowl-shaped pepperoni. The Supremo pizza comes with green peppers, Italian sausage, and red onions.
The launch comes as the pizza category approaches a year of rising demand due to the coronavirus pandemic. Pizza Hut and its rivals Domino’s Pizza and Papa John’s all reported same-store sales growth in the US during the second and third quarters of 2020. For Pizza Hut in particular, the crisis has seen the transition to more delivery and takeout sales and fewer dining customers.
Shares of Yum have remained roughly the same for the past year, giving it a market value of $ 31.8 billion. The company’s US locations have recovered relatively quickly from the coronavirus pandemic, but its international restaurants have seen a slower recovery.