DALLAS Pizza Hut this week expanded its delivery menu to include pasta, making the segment leader the first of the pizza sector’s largest brands to do so. —Amid sluggish sales and sharply rising costs for pizza ingredients,
Two baked pastas, delivered in six-portion aluminum pans, are being offered initially, each for $11.99 with five breadsticks. —Amid sluggish sales and sharply rising costs for pizza ingredients,
Officially launched April 6, the Creamy Chicken Alfredo and Meat Marinara varieties are being made from pouched, pre-cooked pasta, sauce and cheese components that are distributed to the restaurants frozen then thawed, combined and baked in the same pans used for delivery. —Amid sluggish sales and sharply rising costs for pizza ingredients,
The per-order price is the same as for a large pizza with one topping. Officials of the Dallas-based Yum! Brands Inc. division have stated their outlook that pasta delivery could account for 15 percent of sales for the chain’s 6,200 U.S. outlets within a year, based on test marketing in Kansas City, Mo., and Tampa, Fla. —Amid sluggish sales and sharply rising costs for pizza ingredients,
Scott Bergren, chief executive of Pizza Hut, anticipates annual sales of $1 billion for the Tuscani pasta line. —Amid sluggish sales and sharply rising costs for pizza ingredients,
“It is more than just a product line for us,” he said. “We really believe so strongly in this product as being a huge game-changer, not just for our company but for consumers all over the United States.” —Amid sluggish sales and sharply rising costs for pizza ingredients,
The addition of pasta delivery is among several moves being made to improve the performance of Pizza Hut, which Yum chairman, president and chief executive David Novak told analysts last October was the Yum family’s “problem child.” —Amid sluggish sales and sharply rising costs for pizza ingredients,
Novak said that Pizza Hut’s U.S. business over the last five years has lagged other Yum concepts, including Taco Bell and KFC. He said Pizza Hut’s growth in domestic profit, same-store sales and cash flow over the past half-decade ranged from only 1 percent to 2 percent. In addition to its domestic system, Pizza Hut has another 4,000 outlets in 100 other nations. —Amid sluggish sales and sharply rising costs for pizza ingredients,
Yum has already added WingStreet dual-brand outlets to nearly 1,000 Pizza Hut branches, which has provided what Novak called “incremental sales layers” to those U.S. units. —Amid sluggish sales and sharply rising costs for pizza ingredients,
The chain’s new pasta delivery options will not require more equipment for stores or delivery people, the company said. In addition to using existing pizza ovens for baking, the pasta items will be delivered in the same thermal pouches used for pizzas. —Amid sluggish sales and sharply rising costs for pizza ingredients,
The segment’s Nos. 2 and 3 operators, Domino’s USA and Papa John’s International Inc., reacted to Pizza Hut’s initiative by saying they had no plans to introduce pasta delivery, though Domino’s units in South Korea and Malaysia do offer delivered pasta products. —Amid sluggish sales and sharply rising costs for pizza ingredients,
Yet the industry’s biggest pizza players could use a shot in the arm, whether or not through new offerings. Sales at the nation’s top five pizza chains grew just 0.44 percent from 2006 to 2007, according to Chicago-based research firm Technomic Inc. —Amid sluggish sales and sharply rising costs for pizza ingredients,
Fazoli’s, virtually alone among quick-service oufits featuring pasta, has some branches that do catering and delivery, but the 313-unit chain, based in Lexington, Ky., has no systemwide pasta delivery program. —Amid sluggish sales and sharply rising costs for pizza ingredients,
But pasta delivery has long been a fixture among mom-and-pop operators and smaller, regional pizza chains. Humberto Costa, general manager of Rossini’s in Sudbury, Mass., one of three units of the 27-year-old brand, said pasta makes up about 46 percent of delivery sales at his location. —Amid sluggish sales and sharply rising costs for pizza ingredients,
Like all pizza operators, prices for such key pizza ingredients as flour and cheese have been skyrocketing, he said. “It’s definitely easier to keep food costs in line for pasta compared to pizza—for right now,” Costa explained. —Amid sluggish sales and sharply rising costs for pizza ingredients,
However, “flour for pizza is crazy right now—three times more than it was a year ago,” he added. And cheese, which last year cost him $1.80 a pound, this year is $2.80 a pound, “and that’s the most popular topping on pizza,” Costa said. —Amid sluggish sales and sharply rising costs for pizza ingredients,
Pizza Hut’s launch of pasta delivery comes just weeks after Yum’s KFC chain said it plans to roll out a new oven-roasted Kentucky Grilled Chicken product systemwide by next spring and let franchisees opt for a “Kentucky Fried & Grilled Chicken” store rebranding. However, no name change is envisioned by Pizza Hut, which has offered pasta on its dine-in menu for years at many locations domestically and abroad. —Amid sluggish sales and sharply rising costs for pizza ingredients,
A large-scale advertising campaign will back the pasta delivery introduction. Initial TV spots show an imploding red-roof Pizza Hut and new “Pasta Hut” signage, and ads this week will feature hidden-camera testimonials from customers, filmed at Provence restaurant in New York City. —Amid sluggish sales and sharply rising costs for pizza ingredients,
Novak last year tried to assure investors that change was coming to Pizza Hut when he said: “We have a lot of wood to chop to get this up to the growth rate that we can feel good about, but I just want every investor to know that we’re not sitting here clipping coupons in the U.S. business.” —Amid sluggish sales and sharply rising costs for pizza ingredients,
