If you’ve ordered a pizza from Pizza Hut, you probably know that the fast-food chain is more expensive than other brands, but have you wondered why Pizza Hut is so expensive?
Well, I’ve been researching why Pizza Hut is so expensive, and some of the reasons might surprise you, so keep reading to find out what I’ve discovered!
Why Is Pizza Hut So Expensive?
One of the main reasons Pizza Hut is so expensive is because Pizza Hut uses a lot of cheese, more than 300 million pounds per year, and is responsible for 3% of the cheese used worldwide. Also, Pizza Hut has to pay increasingly more for ingredients like flour, meat, and vegetables due to inflation.
Do you want to know the other reasons why Pizza Hut is so expensive? If so, continue reading below as I’ll tell you the top 11 reasons!
1. Pizza Hut Uses A Lot Of Cheese
Pizza Hut goes through about 300 million pounds of cheese a year, making the fast-food pizza chain the biggest user of cheese in the world, coming in at using 3% of cheese worldwide.
Furthermore, Leprino Foods, which is out of Denver, Colorado, produces the cheese Pizza Hut uses, and the company created a preservative mist just for Pizza Hut.
Moreover, this mist allows Pizza Hut to add flavors to the cheese without the cheese crumbling like many other pizza chains.
2. More People Are Opting For Delivery
Pizza Hut has had to raise prices within the past few years because more people are opting for delivery, which is the complete opposite of what Pizza Hut used to be.
To illustrate, Pizza Hut was primarily a dine-in restaurant, but as more people began using delivery in 2019, it led to servers and hosts being out of jobs.
Therefore, this created an issue where Pizza Hut had to hire more drivers and staff the kitchens for delivery orders, which hurt its profits, and then caused prices to go up,
3. Multiple Lawsuits
Multiple lawsuits have hit Pizza Hut over the years, which has resulted in the company charging more for its products to try to recoup some of the money.
For example, in 2016, Pizza Hut lost a lawsuit, which meant the company had to pay over $3.1 million to settle, which was the biggest lawsuit it faced at the time.
Furthermore, most of the lawsuits that Pizza Hut has been hit with have been from delivery drivers claiming not to get reimbursement for gas and other issues.
4. COVID-19 Pandemic
COVID-19 resulted in the closure of many businesses worldwide, and Pizza Hut had to close multiple locations throughout the world, including in America and the UK.
Therefore, the closures of locations, delivery-only services, and other associated COVID issues caused Pizza Hut to increase prices to regain the profits lost during 2020.
5. Engagement Publicity Stunts
Pizza Hut has made poor decisions regarding publicity, such as when it created an engagement package valued at $10,000 and the company released ten packages.
Further, the package had fireworks, an engagement ring, and wedding photographers and videographers, which was a lot of money to put together without guaranteeing a return.
So, since Pizza Hut created this specific publicity stunt, it meant the company was spending money it would never get back, resulting in revenue loss.
6. One Pizza Hut Franchisee Went Through Bankruptcy
Pizza Hut had to increase prices after one of the franchisees went through bankruptcy, which happened to be the biggest the chain had, known as NPC.
Also, the bankruptcy resulted in more than 300 locations closing and a debt of around $1 billion, which meant the pizza chain had to recoup losses due to this significant debt.
7. Higher Operating Costs
Pizza Hut has always been more expensive because it has had higher operating costs than other pizza chains since it did offer dine-in seating, in-house wait staff, and other amenities.
For example, Pizza Hut had to have higher prices to pay the in-house staff at each location and maintain the dine-in seating areas, such as booths and tables.
8. Some Pizza Hut Locations Offered An Upgraded Dine-In Experience
Upgraded dine-in experiences exist at some Pizza Hut locations, including a buffet at all-you-can-eat locations and desserts, salads, and more offerings.
Additionally, in some locations in Indiana and Virginia, Pizza Hut changed its restaurants to become more like an Italian Bistro where penne pasta and sandwiches are offered.
Therefore, prices are higher because of these other dining experiences, even though most locations do not have these additional offerings.
9. Higher-Quality Ingredients
Pizza Hut has higher-quality ingredients compared to other pizza chains, such as better cheese, better meat, and fresher vegetables, which is one reason why prices are higher.
10. More Topping Choices
Pizza Hut offers a variety of toppings to customers that they can add to their pizza, but having an expanded menu with more topping choices means that prices will be higher.
11. Pizza Hut Has More Than 18,000 Locations
Pizza Hut is one of the biggest pizza chains in the world, with more than 18,000 locations worldwide, which means costs are higher since the company has to maintain all of them!
For example, with this many locations, you will have expenses upgrading equipment, expenses with more cheese and topping purchases, and other related costs.
Therefore, Pizza Hut prices are higher to cover the operating costs associated with having more than 18,000 locations!
To know more, you can also read our posts on why Domino’s is so expensive, why Popeyes is so expensive, and why WhistlePig is so expensive.
Conclusion
If you’re wondering why Pizza Hut is so expensive, you have to account for the fact that Pizza Hut orders and uses over 300 million pounds of cheese a year, which is costly quality cheese.
Additionally, Pizza Hut has over 18,000 locations worldwide, so the more locations there are, the higher costs are associated with maintaining the establishments.
On top of that, lawsuits and poor publicity stunts where the company has lost thousands of dollars meant that it had to recoup costs by raising prices.