By Justin Worland, TIME

Not sure what sort of toppings you want on your pizza? A new menu from Pizza Hut will figure it out for you.

The menu appears on a special tablet and tracks your eye movements as you look at 20 different toppings. After a few seconds, it decides what you want.

"Finally the indecisive orderer and the prolonged menu peruser can cut time and always get it right," a Pizza Hut spokesperson told the Washington Post, "so that the focus of dining can be on the most important part - the enjoyment of eating!"

The menu is currently in the testing phase at 300 of the chain's locations across the United Kingdom, and may move to the United States.

By Kate Taylor, Entrepreneur.com

On Thanksgiving, turkey takes the center stage. However, on Thanksgiving Eve, pizza is the surprise MVP for many families.

The day before Thanksgiving is one of the five busiest days of the year for the pizza industry, as customers seek a convenient meal after a busy day of traveling and holiday preparations. And, with a restaurant revamp that doubles menu options, Pizza Hut believes that this means a record-setting day for the brand.

Pizza Hut anticipates serving more than 1.2 million pizzas today, an increase from last year when the chain sold 1 million pizzas on Thanksgiving Eve. While the most popular pizzas are still pepperoni and cheese, nearly half of the pizzas sold are expected to feature at least one new flavor and/or ingredient, such as sriracha sauce, fresh spinach or pretzel crust.

"We treat [Thanksgiving Eve] much like the Super Bowl," says Pizza Hut spokesperson Doug Terfehr. "Early morning team meeting, review of all the new pizzas and specials and plenty of drivers ready to deliver!"

The next big pizza sales day this year is New Year's Eve. Also making the list of the five busiest days for pizza chains: Halloween and Valentine's Day.

Related from Entrepreneur.com:

Inside Pizza Hut’s Radical Move to Double Its Menu

For America’s No. 5 Pizza Chain, Moms Are the Secret Sauce

Is This the Year Fast-Food Pizza Disappears?

By Kate Taylor, Entrepreneur.com

In a bid to turn around lagging sales, Pizza Hut is serving up some serious change.

Starting Nov. 19, the world’s largest pizza chain will have 10 new crusts, six new sauces and five new toppings, not to mention a redesigned website, logo, pizza boxes and employee attire.

The new offerings - which include trendy items such as pretzel crust and honey sriracha sauce - will double the chain’s existing menu, and can be mixed and matched to create 2 billion different pizzas. That’s right - 2 billion.

Pizza Hut CEO David Gibbs calls the changes “the most significant we’ve made in our history.” And change is just what it needs. Pizza Hut, which is owned along with KFC and Taco Bell by Yum Brands, has suffered eight straight quarters of same-store sales declines. In the latest quarter, U.S. sales fell 2 percent and the company said its operating profit would miss initial estimates. Domino’s, on the other hand, saw U.S. sales jump nearly 8 percent in the latest quarter.

But Pizza Hut’s bold move is not without its risks. After all, an extensive and on-trend menu may get people talking, but an overcrowded menu can be more trouble than it is worth.

Why now’s the time

One look at Pizza Hut’s revamp and it’s clear the chain is trying to appeal to millennials. The pizza giant is ready for a new look, now making its servers wear jeans and Pizza Hut t-shirts with phrases like “No one throws a sandwich party.”

Its 11-item “Explore Flavor” menu includes meals such as the Sweet Sriracha Dynamite (a pizza with honey sriracha sauce, crust and drizzle, topped with chicken, pineapple and two kinds of peppers) and the Pretzel Piggy (a pretzel pizza topped with bacon, mushroom, fresh spinach and balsamic glaze that uses garlic Parmesan sauce instead of marinara). And, because health food is hot, it has introduced Skinny Slice pizzas — thinner versions of its traditional hand-tossed crust — as well as fresh spinach as a topping.

The ideas are good, and the new pizza is pretty tasty (we tried it). It’s certainly not something that would be mistaken as fine cuisine, but it is bound to help Pizza Hut stand out from the competition - much like the Waffle Taco did for Taco Bell.

That’s not a bad thing. The Waffle Taco and similar quirky and trendy items helped boost Taco Bell’s earnings, with the Tex-Mex chain shining as the brightest point in Yum Brands’ portfolio for 2014.

The revamp also speaks to a continued effort by fast-food restaurants to act more like fast-casual restaurants, which have seen more traffic growth in the last five years than any other segment of the industry. Last year alone, visits to fast-casual restaurants were up 8 percent, while the fast-food segment saw no growth.

Earlier this year, Pizza Hut started selling pizza by the slice, adopted a fast-casual inspired store design and tested an interactive, tabletop tablet. The latest overhaul serves as a closing statement in Pizza Hut’s argument that fast-food pizza as we once knew it is disappearing.

Related: Pizza Hut’s Biggest Franchisee Says Company Needs to Up Its Digital Game

The price for franchisees

Of course, major changes also require major funding and training. The chain isn’t pulling any existing pizza options from the menu, a move that keeps with its 56-year history, but a potentially time-consuming and pricey one; after all, it takes more time and money to make a pizza with fresh spinach and drizzled with honey sriracha than a plain cheese pizza. While the new pizzas cost more and can earn back more money per pie, customers need to bite first so that the ingredient costs and training don’t go to waste.

This behind-the-scenes work can seriously drain a franchise and turn franchisees against a brand. McDonald’s, for example, has blamed recent financial troubles in part on an overly complicated menu, a factor that has also turned many franchisees against the chain.

In September, Pizza Hut brought more than 1,000 area managers and area coaches to the chain’s Dallas headquarters to taste and learn to make the new pizzas firsthand with the chain’s Academy Team.

As for costs, Pizza Hut spokesperson Doug Terfehr says, “While I can't share specifics of the investment, I can tell you this is biggest thing we've done in a very long time."

A Pizza Hut spokesperson assured me that franchisees have been extremely supportive of the changes — a fact confirmed by NPC International, Pizza Hut’s biggest franchisee.

“Franchisees worked hand in hand with Pizza Hut, Inc., on every facet of this launch,” says a spokesperson from NPC. “We couldn't feel better about the direction we're going and the long-term strength these changes will have on our business... This is what our customers have told us they want, and we think these new flavors are going to be very popular with customers of all ages.”

If Pizza Hut was struggling, so was NPC: in August, the franchisee reported that same-store sales at its Pizza Hut units fell almost 6 percent in the second quarter compared to a nearly 4 percent drop a year ago.

Related: For America’s No. 5 Pizza Chain, Moms Are the Secret Sauce

The company’s sales decline was driven by a dip in its China business following the revelations over its food quality that caused Chinese customers to avoid its restaurants. The company expects its China sales will improve somewhat in the fourth quarter, but said they will remain in the red. As a result, Yum YUM revised its earnings per share growth estimates for the full year to between 6% and 10% after previously predicting growth of at least 20%.

Yum’s shares gained 0.4% in after-hours trading after falling 2.3% during the day on Tuesday.

The big number: 14% - that’s how much same-store sales in China declined for Yum Brands, slightly more than the forecasted 13% decline analysts had predicted ahead of Tuesday’s report. The steep drop-off came after a report revealed improper food-handling practices by Yum’s Chinese supplier, Shanghai Fusi. As a result of the ensuing scandal, which also ensnared McDonald’s, Yum cut ties with Shanghai Fusi’s U.S. parent company, meat supplier Osi Group. (For McDonald’s, the China scandal is also expected to put a major dent on sales at the fast food chain’s Japanese unit.)

Same-store sales at KFC locations in China dropped 14% in the company’s third quarter and 11% at Pizza Hut stores in the country.

Yum Brands addressed the scandal’s impact on China sales, saying in a press release, “In our experience, sales typically take six to nine months to recover from these types of events.”

CEO David Novak gave a positive spin to the company’s troubles in China and highlighted plans to open more restaurants there.

“China sales are on the path to recovery and we expect to develop at least 700 new restaurants in China this year, which we’re confident will ultimately deliver high returns as we further capitalize on the world's fastest growing consuming class,” he said in a statement.

What you might have missed: Yum’s Taco Bell stores, which are mostly located in the U.S., reported a 3% bump in same-store domestic sales during the quarter. The company attributed the increase to the chain’s new breakfast menu, which debuted earlier this year with items including steak and egg burritos and a waffle taco. With the new menu items, Taco Bell is among the chains making a push into the breakfast space that has mostly been dominated by McDonald’s. Novak said in his statement that the Taco Bell breakfast options offer Yum “a new growth platform to build upon in the years to come.”

By Jack Linshi, TIME

Pizza Hut is testing out "skinny slices" in two U.S. cities for those who are trying to cut calories without cutting their favorite foods, the Associated Press reports.

In Toledo, Ohio, customers will be able to create an entire pie of skinny slices with up to five toppings, with each slice under 300 calories. In West Palm Beach, Fla., customers will have a selection of six pre-set skinny slice pies, with each slice under 250 calories.

The caloric reduction is due to using less dough and fewer toppings, a Pizza Hut spokesman told the AP.

A non-skinny slice of Pizza Hut pizza ranges from 180 calories (12? medium Thin 'N Crispy Veggie Lover's) to 470 calories (14? large pan Meat Lover's), according to Pizza Hut's nutrition information.

Pizza Hut's lighter pizza is the fast food industry's latest attempt at improving its image, though to date the success has been limited. Burger King last year unveiled its lower-calorie fries, called "Satisfries," but discontinued them in August after the snack failed to resonate with customers. Domino's previously tested a whole wheat crust to appeal to diners on the Atkins diet, but soon abandoned that idea, too.

In fact, the real demand at fast food restaurants may in fact be for their unhealthy options. At Wendy's, for example, owners decided to bring back the Pretzel Bacon Burger permanently after strong customer demand, and the burger soon garnered heavy praise from critics and customers alike.

Parent company Yum Brands YUM said on Wednesday that sales at Pizza Hut stores open at least a year fell 3% in the second quarter, an unexpected drop as analysts were anticipating a small 0.1% increase, according to Consensus Metrix,

Pizza Hut, which analysts say is operating dated stores and offering very little in the way of innovation, has been facing tough competition from all corners. Archrival Domino’s Pizza DPZ has been discounting aggressively, and, for example, is currently offering pizzas with two-toppings for $5.99. Meanwhile, other restaurant chains are muscling in on Pizza Hut’s turf: In December, Chipotle Mexican Grill CMG took a stake in a small chain called Pizzeria Locale, and is adding new outlets. And Buffalo Wild Wings invested in the pizza restaurant chain PizzaRev.

“At Pizza Hut, although second-quarter results were disappointing, we are taking significant actions in our U.S. business to reignite sales and expect to make substantial progress” by the end of the year, CEO David Novak said in a statement. This week, Pizza Hut announced that it would sell an eight-inch pizza-shaped chocolate chip cookie to entice customers who are just racing in and out of its restaurants. Papa John’s introduced a similar dessert last year.

Pizza Hut wasn’t Yum’s only trouble spot. Its Taco Bell chain also had a disappointing showing in the quarter ending June 14. Comparable sales rose 2%, below analyst estimates for a 3.6% increase.

On the bright side, Yum’s KFC fried chicken restaurant chain seemed to be finally regaining favor with customers in China, where Yum gets about half of its revenue. China same-store sales rose 15%, well above the 11% analysts forecast. Yum’s sales in China went into free-fall last year after an outbreak of avian flu. The company has been trying to reassure Chinese customers that its restaurant are safe, and those efforts appear to be working as shown by a three-fold gain in its operating profits in that market.