Pizza Hut has been claiming that “you can’t out-pizza the Hut” in its ads and, now, it’s ready to prove it to customers.
Pizza Hut has announced that its new Chicago Tavern-Style Pizza and a complete toppings transformation marks the biggest toppings menu overhaul in over a decade.
The company claims it’s the first “global” pizza chain to offer a Tavern Pizza, as well as the first global pizza brand to offer Chicken Sausage, Pesto Swirl and Spicy Sauce as permanent topping offerings. The new thin-crust style and pizza toppings has officially debuted on menus nationwide.
For most of us average pizza eaters, tavern-style pizza might not be in our vocabulary. But the style dates back to Chicago in the 1930's.
Often served free, thin-crust pizza became a staple in taverns with bartenders serving it up to keep patrons coming back. In recent years, the style has grown in popularity as a favorite amongst pizza enthusiasts of all generations who gravitate towards its square-cut, crispy thin-crust style that makes it a shareable and snackable pizza offering.
The Hut thinks consumers will take a shine to this newfangled pizza because the crust is loaded from edge to edge. To kick things off, the flavors available are Spicy Marinara Sauce, Pesto Sauce Swirl, Chicken Sausage, Fresh Diced Garlic, Grape Tomatoes, Caramelized Onions, Fire Roasted Peppers and Crispy Cupped Pepperoni.
The options
What kind of taste should you experience? Here’s what the Hut has to say about that:
Pesto Margherita Tavern Pizza: A combo of sweet marinara, grape tomatoes, garlic and basil pesto topped to the edge and served square-cut on Thin 'N Crispy crust & sprinkled with parmesan-oregano seasoning.
The Ultimate Tavern Pizza: A square-cut Thin 'N Crispy crust topped to the edge with sausage, pepperoni, fire roasted peppers, onions, grape tomatoes & parmesan-oregano seasoning.
Spicy Chicken Sausage Tavern Pizza: A square-cut Thin 'N Crispy crust topped to the edge with spicy marinara, chicken sausage, fire roasted peppers, caramelized onions & parmesan-oregano seasoning.
Double Pepperoni Tavern Pizza: A combo of sweet marinara, classic pepperoni & crispy cupped pepperoni topped to the edge and comes square-cut on Thin 'N Crispy crust & sprinkled with parmesan-oregano seasoning.
Making sure that every pizza lover gets what they want, Pizza Hut said that these new additions can also be selected as toppings on custom Pizza Hut pizza orders.
The four new Chicago Tavern-Style Pizza recipes or a create your own one-topping Chicago Tavern-Style Pizza can be ordered at participating Pizza Hut restaurants nationwide starting at $12.00 for a large pizza.
Expect other chains to follow suit
Pizza Hut’s innovation can probably already caught the eye of its competitors. In fact, RestaurantDive reports that Domino’s, Little Caesars and Blaze have already been updating their menus this year.
Domino’s put a New York Style Pizza on its menu in April. Little Caesars entered the snack category with the addition of its Crazy Puffs in March. And Blaze is in the midst of a complete menu overhaul.