The chain is launching a new Detroit-style pizza, replacing the traditional round shape with a rectangular crust with cheese on the edges, which is popular in Michigan. It is Pizza Hut’s second biggest product launch this month, as the pandemic-era pizza war shows little sign of slowing down.
Pizza Hut said it tested more than 500 iterations of the new menu item, with several of those tests in the Midwest, before the national launch on Tuesday. The chain used its own “tomato sauce matured with vines” because it found that it kept the thick crust light and airy.
The new offering comes in four options, including the “Detroit Double Pepperoni”, which Pizza Hut describes as a “pizza masterpiece” because it includes 80 slices of pepperoni. The other options are “Double Cheesy”, “Meaty Deluxe” and “Supremo”, which has Italian sausage, red onion and green pepper. Prices start at $ 10.99.
Competition between major chains has been fierce during the pandemic, which has fueled an increase in demand for pizza among Americans, who spend more time at home and avoid dining in restaurants. Sales and revenue increased last year at Pizza Hut, Domino’s (DMPZF) and Papa John’s (PZZA) while consumers stuck pizzas down their throats incessantly.
Peter Saleh, a restaurant analyst at research firm BTIG, expects last year’s growing sales to continue this year. “What we saw in 2020 was that many of these pizza delivery guys had a big boom in their sales because there was nowhere to go,” he told CNN Business. Several US states have limited restaurant meals and have enacted capacity controls because of the virus.
Saleh predicts that pizza sales will remain healthy in 2021, as the “dining environment continues to be challenged”.
