Detroit Pepperoni Double Pizza from Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut is jumping on the Detroit-style pan pizza trend as it appears to continue its recovery in 2021 after last year’s strong sales growth.
Starting on Tuesday, the Yum Brands chain will be selling four different types of Detroit-style pizza for a limited time, with prices starting at $ 10.99.
Detroit style pizza is characterized by its rectangular shape, thick crust, cheese from end to end and tomato sauce that covers the cheese and other toppings. Pizza’s popularity has grown in the last decade, when Michiganders opened pizzerias elsewhere in the U.S. Little Caesars, which is a privately held company based in Detroit, was the first national pizza chain to bring the trend to the masses in 2013.
Buddy’s Pizza was responsible for creating the dish 75 years ago, using blue steel pans from local automotive factories. In 2018, CapitalSpring, a private equity firm specializing in restaurant and franchise brands, invested an undisclosed amount in Buddy’s to help it capitalize on the national expansion trend.
“Detroit-style pizza is the fastest growing trend in pizza,” said David Graves, brand director for Pizza Hut US. “It is no longer something exclusive to the Midwest.”
He added that Pizza Hut customers expect the chain to give their own opinion on food trends and are ordering Detroit-style pizza.
“I’ve never seen our franchisees more excited for a launch,” said Graves.
The chain spent more than a year perfecting its own version and even created a new tomato sauce that will only be used in that type of pizza.
Detroit Double Pepperoni offers 80 slices of pepperoni, of which more than half are pepperoni. Double Cheesy pizza offers two types of cheese, while Meaty Deluxe comes with bacon, Italian sausage and pepperoni. The Supreme Pizza comes with green peppers, Italian sausage and red onion.
The launch takes place at the moment when the demand for the pizza category approaches one year, due to the coronavirus pandemic. Pizza Hut and its rivals Domino’s Pizza and Papa John’s reported growth in same-store sales in the U.S. during the second and third quarters of 2020. For Pizza Hut in particular, the crisis helped to accelerate its transition to more delivery and delivery sales and less dinner customers.
Yum’s shares were virtually flat last year, giving it a market cap of $ 31.8 billion. The company’s locations in the United States recovered relatively quickly from the coronavirus pandemic, but its international restaurants have recovered more slowly.