Drive-Thru Gourmet
It's in the bag: Pizza Hut turns up the heat on its competition with new 'oven hot' delivery
This week I reached out for a large 2-topping pizza at the home delivery king, Pizza Hut, with 6,300 restaurants in the U.S., and another 10 thousand dotting the globe.
I chose Italian sausage and mushrooms as my toppings, moving on from my usual double pepperoni pie. I'm still evolving as a person.
Here's the Pizza Hut large 2-topping breakdown: a 14-inch hand-tossed crust, with sauce, mozzarella, crumbled Italian sausage and mushrooms.
Total calories: 330 (per slice). Fat grams: 16. Sodium: 560 mg. Carbs: 32 g. Dietary fiber: 2 g. Protein: 14 g. Manufacturer's suggested retail price: $7.99 on special. If it's not on special, look for a coupon. They're everywhere.
As noted philosopher and Las Vegas legend Buddy Hackett once said, "99 percent is in the delivery," and that's why we're here. Pizza Hut has a new, high-tech Oven Hot Delivery System that's heating up the pizza wars. You can see the geeks Domino's product development labs squirming.
If you've been disappointed by pizza that arrives at your doorstep nearing room temperature, get ready. The Hut promises that its pies will be 15 degrees hotter from now on. Hotter than what? Hotter than before.
Here's how they're turning up the heat. First, the famous red delivery bag has three layers that keep pizzas nice and toasty. The first layer is made with 3M Thinsulate, the material that turned ski jackets into a fashion statement. No more looking like the Michelin Man on the slopes.
The second layer is lined with PET Aluminum Radiant Barrier, like astronauts' blankets. The inside layer is padded with polyester fibers, like the pink insulation in your attic.
If you live in Minnesota or Alaska, you might ask the Pizza Hut delivery guy to keep the pizza and just leave the bag. Winter's coming.
Pizza Hut did not stop cranking up the degrees with the bag. The cardboard pizza box has thicker walls and a corrugated bottom liner that keeps the cheese melty, the crust crispy, with no more greasy, soggy bottoms.
When Pizza Hut says "Oven Hot Delivery System," that may be poetic license. If the bag was oven hot, the pizza would continue baking all the way to your house. But I will admit, my pizza was hot and the crust crispy when I opened the box. So good on the Hut.