People haven't been eating at Pizza Hut lately — so the chain is overhauling and expanding its menu in a way it's never done before.
On Nov. 19, Pizza Hut will roll out huge changes at all of its 6,300 nationwide restaurants, USA Today reported.
"This is the biggest change we've ever made," Carrie Walsh, chief marketing officer, said. "We're redefining the category."
The massive list of changes, as USA Today's Bruce Horovitz reported, will take Pizza Hut's offerings from:
• One crust choice to 10, including salted pretzel and honey sriracha.• One sauce choice to six, including garlic Parmesan and Buffalo.
• Zero "premium" toppings to five, including sliced banana peppers and Peruvian cherry peppers.
• Zero "drizzles" to five, which are basically sauces like Buffalo and balsamic that are lightly drizzled on the top of the pizza after it's baked.
• Six special recipes to 22, including 7-Alarm Fire (loaded with peppers and jalapeno) to Giddy-Up Barbecue Chicken (with chicken and bacon and barbecue sauce.)
Also on the list of changes: a new logo, new uniforms and a brand-spankin' new pizza box.
This combination made with product images provided by Pizza Hut shows the restaurant chain's new specialty pizzas, from left, Sweet Sriracha Dynamite, Cherry Pepper Bombshell, and Pretzel Piggy. The atypical flavors and new ingredients are part of a menu overhaul set to be announced Monday, Nov. 10, 2014 and hit stores Nov. 19. (AP Photo/Pizza Hut)
"This is a chain desperate for change," Horovitz said of Pizza Hut, noting that Pizza Hut stores have seen consistently slumping sales nationwide over the past two years.
The scope of Pizza Hut's changes is unusual in the restaurant business, and it says a lot about the chain's struggles, Horovitz said.
"When you make this many changes at once, it's very difficult to see which change was a hit, and which change flopped," he noted. "So this is a sign of a company that really, really either needs or wants change fast."
This story has been updated.
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