Pizza Hut got its start as a sit-down restaurant, festooned with Tiffany lamps and checkered tablecloths. Its present is largely a delivery business, bringing its products to your home (or having you pick them up). As for its future, it’s thinking rapid drive-thru.
The chain has debuted the first of what it’s calling its “next-gen” restaurant design, which includes a drive-thru that will let people pick up pizzas without ordering ahead. The goal, the company says, is to serve guests in less than three minutes.
Hungry patrons will select an “at-the-ready” item from a new menu that includes the most popular foods, such as personal pan cheese and pepperoni pizzas as well as boneless wings. The first U.S. location is now open in Plano, Texas.
While the concept is new to U.S. Pizza Hut locations, the company is already operating similar restaurants in 80 markets around the world—and says the design has driven more transactions and in-restaurant traffic in those.
Don’t want a premade item? You can also pick up a digital order at the stores, which will be waiting in a heated cabinet. Or you can order at the restaurant via a self-service kiosk and watch the food being made.
Customers being able to pick up a pie on a whim is new for Pizza Hut, but not the pizza industry. Little Caesars has a similar drive-thru concept, where people can swing by without ordering ahead and pick up a premade pizza.
Pizza Hut has been increasingly rolling out new ideas this year to increase awareness of its brand. In September, the brand offered to print people’s résumés on a pizza box and deliver it to prospective employers, and in February, it launched a campaign called “Goodbye Pies” that let people send a pizza to the address of an ex (or soon-to-be ex).
And just last month, the company unveiled Tomato Wine by Pizza Hut, a limited-edition offering the company says “captures the essence of Pizza Hut’s signature flavors in every sip.”
