Pizza Hut launches ‘major brand reset’ and new handcrafted range: Pizza Hut has launched a “major brand reset” alongside a new range of handcrafted pizzas. It said all team members have been retrained in “the art of handcrafted”, which sees sourdough style dough hand-stretched to create light and airy pizzas. This follows research by the business which showed that 75% said the new range tasted better than Pizza Hut’s current classic dough base, and 92% said they’d buy the it over the current range. There will also be new flavours such as Pepperoni and Nduja and The Spicy Goat. Nicolas Burquier, managing director at Pizza Hut, said: “We are so proud of this new, handcrafted pizza dough – and we can’t wait for you to taste it. We have retrained every single one of our managers and franchisees in the art of handcrafted, so wherever you are in the UK, we hope this will be the best pizza you have tasted yet.” The handcrafted pizzas are available now in Pizza Hut locations across the UK. Pizza Hut is part of Yum! Brands, which has more than 50,000 restaurants in over 150 countries and territories across the world. It operates more than 500 Huts in the UK and Northern Ireland, employing in excess of 14,000 people. In February, Yum Brands reported that system sales in Europe, including the UK, were down 3% in the fourth quarter and were flat in the year – the continent accounts for 12% of Pizza Hut’s system sales globally. Pizza Hut also announced this year that it is entering the burger market in the US with the launch of a Cheeseburger Melt, which ditches the bun in favour of a crispy, thin crust, which is folded and loaded with beef, applewood-smoked bacon, onions, mozzarella and cheddar, served with burger sauce on the side. Pizza Hut features in the Propel UK Food and Beverage Franchisor Database, an exhaustive guide to the companies offering a food and beverage franchise in the UK available exclusively to Premium subscribers. The database is updated every two months, and the latest version features 260 businesses. Companies can now have an unlimited number of people receive access to Premium Club for a year for £995 plus VAT – whether they are an operator or supplier. Email kai.kirkman@propelinfo.com today to sign up.
Wingstop to open in Milton Keynes today: Wingstop UK, which is being rolled out here by Lemon Pepper Holdings, will open in Milton Keynes today (Monday, 15 July). Launching at the city’s Midsummer Place Shopping Centre, the store will offer 80 covers and create 60 new jobs. The brand’s 49th opening since 2018, a further eight launches are slated before the end of 2024, including Crawley, Whitechapel and a third site in Leeds. Tom Grogan, co-founder of Lemon Pepper Holdings, said: “We’re so excited to be launching in Milton Keynes today! This follows a hugely successful opening at Westfield Stratford City last month, which is set to become the highest volume Wingstop restaurant globally. Looking ahead, we have ambitious plans for more growth as we approach our 50th site and an extensive pipeline of locations well into 2025.”
