2015 Dec 13
by Dan Myers
Oh, Pizza Hut. America’s largest pizza chain is also one of its most dynamic, with wild menu items all over the world, various concepts that have come and gone, and an eagerness to embrace the most modern of technology. But before it became the ubiquitous chain it is today, it was just another small business founded by two guys with a dream. Here are 25 things you didn’t know about Pizza Hut.
THE CARNEY BROTHERS SETTLED ON “PIZZA HUT” FOR AN INTERESTING REASON
The sign that they purchased only had room for nine characters!
THE CARNEY BROTHERS’ RETURN ON INVESTMENT WAS LUDICROUS
In 1977, the duo sold the company to PepsiCo for a whopping $300,000,000, equal to around $1.2 billion today.
THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL PIZZA HUT WAS OPENED IN COSTA RICA
It was also one of the first American franchises to open in Iraq.
THE “RED ROOF” PIZZA HUTS ARE TODAY A RARE FIND
Sadly, the classic Red Roof Pizza Huts of the 1960s and ‘70s, with their beer, buffet, and jukeboxes, are going by the wayside. If you ever encounter one (or if you have one in your town) consider yourself lucky!
THERE WAS ONCE A MASCOT NAMED “PIZZA PETE”
Pete wore an apron, red neckerchief, and a chef’s hat. He was phased out by the end of the 1970s.
EVER WANTED A PIZZA HUT EASY-BAKE OVEN?
In the 1970s, Pizza hut sold a small oven that baked tiny pizzas with a 60 watt light bulb.
SOME HUGE STARS HAVE APPEARED IN ITS COMMERCIALS
Stars that have appeared in its commercials included Donald Trump!
THE FIRST EVER PIZZA HUT WEBSITE STILL WORKS!
You can visit the website here; no word on whether you can still use it to order a pizza, though!
IT DELIVERED PIES TO SPACE
Pizza Hut sent a pizza up on a rocket in 2001, and actually delivered an edible pie to the International Space Station!
AND ONCE ADVERTISED ON A ROCKET
Think advertising has gotten too over-the-top now? Well just remember 1999, when the company paid more than one million dollars to place a 30-foot advertisement on a rocket.
IT ONCE DELIVERED PIZZAS TO THE WHITE HOUSE
Not quite as impressive as the International Space Station, but Pizza Hut delivered pizzas to the White Housein 1989, when First Lady Barbara Bush decided to throw a pizza party.
THERE’S A TWITTER ACCOUNT DEVOTED TO FORMER PIZZA HUT LOCATIONS
Do you have a strange fascination with tracking down buildings that used to be a Pizza Hut? Then we suggest you follow @UTBAPH, which keeps track of just that.
IT IS ONE OF THE WORLD’S LARGEST CHEESE BUYERS
170,000 cows are needed to produce the 300 billion gallons of milk required to make the cheese that tops the world’s Pizza Hut pizzas.
THE COMPANY GOES THROUGH MORE THAN 300 MILLION POUNDS OF CHEESE ANNUALLY
That’s three percent of all U.S. cheese production!
IT RELEASED A PIZZA HUT PERFUME IN 2012
It started as just a joke, but the pizza-scented perfume (cologne?) was actually sold in a limited quantity.
IT SELLS PIZZA BOXES THAT DOUBLE AS MOVIE PROJECTORS
Ever opened a pizza box only to be disappointed that it doesn’t double as a movie projector? Well if you live in Hong Kong, you can order a pizza box that you can affix your iPhone to. Thanks to a special lens in the box, it’ll project a movie onto the nearest wall. Cool, we guess?
A WOMAN RECENTLY ESCAPED A HOSTAGE SITUATION BY ORDERING FROM PIZZA HUT
Earlier this year, a Florida woman and her children were being held hostage by her boyfriend, who took her cell phone but gave it back to her to order a pizza online. She wrote “911!! Hostage!! Help!!” in the comments section, and after a sharp-eyed employee spotted it she called the police, who quickly arrived at the woman’s house.
This article was first published on the The Daily Meal
