• Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    8
    ·
    edit-2
    3 hours ago

    With that logo and those buildings, they were clearly supposed to be named Pizza Hat until they changed it at the last minute.

    More’s the pity, since “hut” never made sense for pizza and Pizza Hat sounds like the ultimate slacker Halloween costume 😁

  • Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    64
    ·
    edit-2
    7 hours ago

    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.

    • eldavi@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      edit-2
      2 hours ago

      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.

    • Blackmist@feddit.uk
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      3 hours ago

      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.

      • LEONHART@slrpnk.net
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        9
        ·
        4 hours ago

        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.

        • eldavi@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          2 hours ago

          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

        • prettybunnys@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          3 hours ago

          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.

      • Dohnuthut@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        4 hours ago

        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!

        • jballs@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          3 hours ago

          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.

    • RaoulDook@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      6 hours ago

      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.

  • ArxCyberwolf@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    4 hours ago

    The Pizza Hut in my city is still open, but it looks incredibly run-down with weeds all over the almost-always-empty parking lot. Never been there myself, as Pizza Hut had long lost its good reputation before I ever considered going there.

  • tipicaldik@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    10
    ·
    8 hours ago

    I know at least one in our town that’s turned into a cannabis dispensary. Seems to me a smart business man would figure out how to combine the two…

    • Zangoose@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      10
      ·
      8 hours ago

      I assumed this is a Pizza Hut based on the roof but they still exist so I’m not sure it fits?

      I like the version of this meme that’s a picture of a building with an outline of a former Sears logo on the front

      • vortic@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        14
        ·
        7 hours ago

        They still exist, but the Pizza Hut chain and it’s remain restaraunts are shadows of what they used to be. Pizza Hut was awesome in the 80’s. Now the old one near my house is a church.

          • ...m...@ttrpg.network
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            2 hours ago

            …it’s mind-boggling from today’s perspective just how good the olive garden was in the eighties: we reserved a table for my graduation and it was a properly respectable dinner…

            • Serinus@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              48 minutes ago

              It’s hard for me to explain to people the unique tier that Olive Garden (and separately Pizza Hut) existed in.

              There were many nicer Italian places than Olive Garden. It wasn’t pretentious at all, but it was nice and ubiquitous. Maybe a little better than PF Changs today? (Not that I’m very familiar with PF Changs). No one would laugh at you for taking a date there.

              Pizza Hut was more casual by far, largely because you’d have kids playing arcade games and whatnot. Pizza Hut was more family oriented, but still more classy than most things we have today.

              Maybe Texas Roadhouse is closer to accurate.

              • ...m...@ttrpg.network
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                edit-2
                9 minutes ago

                …in its prime, olive garden was very similar to red lobster: upscale suburban is perhaps a good description…

                …these days they’re both well past their prime and i’m not sure a similar national chain comes to mind; it seems like only regional chains are playing in that space…