By Rick Hynum
Pizza Hut may be getting smaller—the company closed 375 locations last year and plans to shutter 250 more in 2026—but its crust is getting better, at least according to a new PR and ad campaign launched this week.
The brand has revamped its hand-tossed crust for the first time in 10 years. Here’s how Pizza Hut described it in a press release: “The refreshed crust delivers a lighter, airier bite with just the right balance of softness and crisp, bringing a modern upgrade to a classic while staying true to what fans love most about Pizza Hut.”
Like its rival Papa Johns, Pizza Hut has seen its fortunes dip in recent years. Pizza Hut’s U.S. same-store sales fell 5% in fiscal year 2025 and 3% in fiscal year 2024. Last November, its parent company, Yum! Brands, announced that it’s exploring strategic options for the brand, including a potential sale. CEO Chris Turner said the process should be wrapped up by the end of this year. In February he said the store closures are the “right answer for the brand as we move through the strategic review.”
It’s unclear whether a new crust will significantly help Pizza Hut, a once-beloved institution, return to its former glory days. The chain lagged behind Domino’s for years in terms of reacting to consumer demand for off-premise dining and making ordering easier through technology. It has a lot of catching up to do.
But it should be noted that Domino’s turned its own sagging fortunes around 16 years ago when it debuted a new and improved crust of its own. The difference: Domino’s shrewdly leaned in to its past mistakes with a nationwide ad blitz trumpeting the message: “We know our pizza sucks.” That move, widely considered the gold standard for corporate comebacks, sparked a major surge in sales, and within less than a decade Domino’s overtook Pizza Hut as the world’s No. 1 pizza chain while evolving into “a tech company that sells pizza.”
Pizza Hut’s efforts have been a good deal more modest. It has positioned the new hand-tossed crust and its Garlic-Parm Hut Blend as upgrades or innovations, although other major brands have debuted trendy specialty pies of their own for the past couple of years.
To drive trial of its new crust, the brand has introduced Hut Crust, a platform anchored with a limited-time offer: Customers can order a large three-topping pizza with their choice of crusts—Hand-Tossed, Tavern Style or Thin ‘N Crispy—for $10.
It’s also launching a national campaign set to a remake of Donna Summer’s 1970s disco anthem Hot Stuff, reimagined as Hut Crust. The spot opens on a close-up of the crust as the beat kicks in, layering pizza beauty shots with lyrics celebrating the new recipe.
Meanwhile, for Pi Day (March 14), Pizza Hut will go on the hunt for a real paid gig: It wants to hire a Hut Crust Connoisseur to serve as “the official guardian of the Hut Crust platform, responsible for tasting and testing all new crust innovations to ensure they meet Pizza Hut’s iconic standards.” In other words, someone will literally get paid to eat pizza crust, to the tune of $31,415.92 payment and free pizza for a year.
Such a campaign seems unlikely to spark the kind of buzz that Domino’s enjoyed after it ‘fessed up to the flaws of its crust in 2010. But these are different times, and there are so many crust types on offer in 2026. Pizza Hut isn’t looking to topple Domino’s from its perch at the top. For now, it needs to achieve stability, and improving its top-selling crust’s flavor, closing underperforming stores and transitioning to a DELCO-focused model make for a good start. Besides, Pizza Hut is still a giant in its own right, and giants are never to be taken lightly.
