Pizza Hut is going for the value-conscious customer.
The Plano, Tex.-based pizza chain on Monday announced the launch of a new value menu, the $7 Deal Lovers Menu. The menu features 17 items such as pizzas, wings and other items. And it includes a trio of new items, including two new flavors of breadsticks—Roasted Garlic and Bacon Cheddar—along with Chocolate Donut Bites.
Customers have to buy two items to get them for $7 apiece.
The menu largely matches the chain’s rivals, Domino’s and Papa Johns, which both have similar offers priced at $6.99—Domino’s “Mix & Match” deal and Papa Johns’ “Papa Pairings.”
It also comes as brands somewhat tepidly enter the value game amid traffic declines in the post-pandemic era. There have been some modest signs that consumers are cutting spending after inflation cut spending power. In addition, people have run out of pandemic savings and are now repaying student loans again.
Yet operators have been somewhat reluctant to go aggressively into discounts, preferring to keep them to mobile apps and loyalty programs.
Yet pizza brands traditionally compete based on price and coming out of the pandemic sales have been generally weak. Consumers have shifted spending to carryout services or started ordering more from third parties.
Pizza Hut plans to market its new value menu with celebrities both in digital and traditional media. The social media influencer Anna Sitar will be at the center of a digital campaign playing off the “girl math,” a Tik Tok trend in which girls believe anything priced low enough is “basically free.”
Saturday Night Live comedian Ego Nwodim, meanwhile, will be featured in a television spot titled “Great Taste” that seeks to remind customers they don’t have to sacrifice taste for value.
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