More than just a pizza experience at Pizza Hut

A long time ago, when you wanted to have a pizza, you went to a pizza parlor. If you had a craving for spaghetti, you went to an Italian restaurant. Want fried chicken? Then you headed for a fast-food outlet. Salads were neither here nor there; you were safe going to a fine dining restaurant.

Pizza Hut, the country’s premier pizza restaurant, is revolutionizing the way we enjoy pizza, roast chicken, salads, spaghetti, and a whole lot more with the launch of its Pinaka-bago dining experience.

Philippine Pizza Inc. vice president for marketing Elaine V. Guzman said the campaign wants to make diners aware that Pizza Hut is now more than just a pizza place. It offers a unique casual dining experience that is different from what we experience from the usual fast-food environment.

"Pizza Hut is now moving along with the ever-changing casual dining landscape. As we roll out this Pinaka-bago program, diners can look forward to an entirely new and enhanced dining experience," Guzman says.

With the new Pizza Hut comes an extensive menu that offers guests a more rounded dining experience. The casual dining restaurant now has an expanded pizza menu, a new line of desserts, soup options, smoothies, a variety of pasta dishes, and a whole lot more.

The expanded menu comes with the extensive facelift Pizza Hut has been implementing in its branches around the country. With the new ambience come more customer interaction and the same quality of service its loyalists have come to expect all these years.

Favorites in Pizza Hut’s expanded menu include bbq ribs, mouth-watering barbecue-glazed pork ribs served over hot paella rice, mango shrimp salad, a fruity and seafood-based salad, and pasta dishes like garlic shrimps and mushrooms and penne in tomato sauce. Another crowd pleaser is the roast chicken, which comes with a serving of spaghetti or solo in either a quarter or half serving. Of the new pizza flavors, an innovative topping is the chicken and pork adobo, which is shredded over a sweetish aioli topping.

On the other hand, improvements in the store ambiance started with changes in furniture. Veering away from the plastic and tiles typical of fast-food joints of old, Pizza Hut now has a very classy, casual-dining feel with sleek wooden furniture, warm, ambient lighting, and a touch of whimsy dominating the whole interior. Of course, the service is even made doubly fast and extra friendly.

The change was due in part to the success of the new dining concept offered by Pizza Hut Bistro, which boasts a more upscale ambience and a full menu of dishes than most usual restaurants. With its show kitchens and classic look, it has become a success in providing a new pizza-and-more dining experience.

Guzman says customer reaction to the new Pizza Hut has been very warm. "The implementation of the enhanced dining program was started a few months ago and so far, the results have been very positive," she adds.

These changes coincide with Pizza Hut’s Pinaka-pizza campaign. Surveys show that Pizza Hut is tops in product and brand association when the word Pinaka-pizza is heard or seen.

The campaign includes an extensive advertising support from TV to print, as well as a variety of merchandising materials displayed all over the metro serving to communicate the transformation of all Pizza Hut outlets.

"The reason behind Pizza Hut’s success all over the world is its steadfast belief and uncompromising drive in providing customers the best in total dining experience. With the new campaign and the changes it entails in the menu, the ambience and the service, we will surely be more dynamic," explains Guzman.

Pizza Hut, home to the country’s Pinaka-pizza, was started in 1958 by two enterprising college students, Frank and Dan Carney, in their hometown in Wichita, Kansas.

Today, Pizza Hut serves over a million pizzas a day in more than 12,689 restaurants in 88 countries, making it the No.1 pizza brand in the world.

In the Philippines, Pizza Hut began in 1984. It is now the country’s most popular pizza restaurant, serving Metro Manila and surrounding provinces, as well as Visayas and Mindanao, with its dine-in restaurants, delivery units, and express counters.