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Reading the comments tells me that most people here do not appreciate exactly how far Pizza Hut fell. For many Gen-X's 1980's Pizza Hut was peak dining. The pizza was buttery deliciousness with full table service like a fancy restaurant, complimentary salad bar for my mom, fancy booths or tables, mood lighting for the folks on a date, and a video game arcade. Going to Pizza Hut was an event. I tried Pizza Hut again in the 2010's and vowed to never attempt to soil my memories like that ever again.
Remember the book-it pizza thing?
Oh man that was the best
I never tasted a more delicious pizza than the personal pan pepperoni I earned from absolutely crushing the Book-It program. That big holographic button, covered in achievement stars. The pizza. Pure bliss.
mine only had 4 pepperoni slices and never enough cheese so i had to spread it around more evenly to enjoy it and it was still 99% bread. lol
The only Pizza Hut “near” me growing up was the one by my grandmas house so when we saw her it was basically a given we were gonna turn my book-it in.
100% the only pizza I even liked growing up.
They still do this actually. Not quite as cool as when we were kids, but my son brought home a coupon last year for his pizza!
My kid's school still does Book It but our closest Pizza Hut doesn't have personal pan pizzas. So they give us a small pizza instead. It's just not the same.
Whereas nowadays if you want to have the modern Pizza Hut experience you can order pizza from anywhere... then just eat the box. 😬
Pretty much any big name pizza place is the same story. A cycle of "make it smaller", "make it out of cheaper ingredients", "put less on it" and "make it cost more" has left most of them barely recognisable as pizza.
The best pizza near any of us is probably from a local family run pizza place.
The best value pizza is probably Costco.
I don't know why everybody else continues to exist. A mountain of brand recognition heading towards oblivion.
Pizza Hut buffet was a good deal for the price and quality, if you wanted to go have a lunch of real pizza.
Our local one is still here but they sold the big red roof building and moved into a strip mall. No inside dining, carry out only. I miss the drive-through though - used to be able to just order online or call and not have to get out of my car to get it. Now I have to park and walk inside and my precious convenience is reduced. But I still refuse to pay for Doordash type bullshit.
There is a pizza hut nearby that still does buffets. I went about a year ago. It wasn't bad.
THE DESSERT PIZZAS
pizza hut in the small town i grew up in stayed like that until the 2018 when the sole owner died and his inheritors outsourced its management rather than returning to bfe to run it (i don't blame them) and i feel like that's how most older establishments enshittify.
there was no way he was making money, but he CLEARLY loved pizza & people and was happy doing it.
Such fond memories. This and Shakey's.