Pizza Hut To Close Kansas Call Centre

Pizza Hut Inc. will close its Overland Park, Kan. call center June 30 and lay off 180 employees, a company spokesman said Tuesday.

The company is in the process of outsourcing all call-center operations for its company-owned locations, spokesman Chris Fuller said.

Pizza Hut will try to find other jobs for the laid-off workers within and outside the company, he said.

Pizza Hut has almost 6,200 restaurants in the United States and more than 4,000 restaurants in 100 other countries.

Pizza Hut Unveils "Ultimate Grill Pizza"

The toppings, including steak, chicken and vegetables, are enhanced with a backyard grilled flavour.

The company is also dangling a Char-Broil Grill2Go Express Grill in a sweepstakes at PizzaHut.com.

One Grill2Go will be awarded every hour from midnight to noon through June 7.

Daily winners will be eligible for the grand prize, a Char-Broil Infrared Commercial Series Grill, The Big Easy Oil-Less Infrared Turkey Fryer and an assortment of Char-Broil Grilling Tools.

Papa John's Sells an Impressive 75,000 Pies in 23-cent Pizza Promotion

Papa John's reversed some recent negative publicity and estimates that they sold an estimated 75,000 pizzas on Thursday in Ohio during a promotion that offered pizza lovers the chance to snag a pie for just 23-cents. More than 80 Papa John's locations in Cleveland, Akron, Youngstown, Toledo, and Columbus took park in the one-day special.

The promotion netted more than $17,500, with all proceeds going to the LeBron James Family Foundation. Papa Johns also donated an additional $10,000 to James' foundation, as well as another $10,000 to the Cavaliers Youth Fund.

Papa Johns offered the promotion to Ohioans after backing the wrong team in the playoffs, and giving away t-shirts making fun of "cry baby" LeBron James. After numerous complaints, Papa Johns decided on a 23-center special, taking inspiration from LeBron's #23.

Obviously more than just Cavs fans showed up for the special deal, and throughout the day there were reports of long lines, traffic problems, and complaints about long waits.

In a press release issued by the company, Tim North, a division vice president, said: "We salute Cleveland fans for coming out in incredible numbers. Papa John's employees across Northeast Ohio worked incredibly hard (Thursday) to keep up with orders and to show how committed we are to Cleveland, the Cavaliers and LeBron James."

Pizza Hut Rolls Out All Natural Pizza

YUM! Brands Inc's Pizza Hut said on Friday it is responding to consumer demand for healthier food options by rolling out a new pizza made with all-natural ingredients.

The move comes as Yum is expanding menus at its domestic Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants to better compete with rival fast-food companies.

Consumers are increasingly clamoring for healthier fast-food menu options and are often willing to pay a premium for meals with natural or organic ingredients.

While the overall industry has had mixed results with healthy or low-calorie fare, Denver-based Chipotle Mexican Grill has grown swiftly on sales of burritos stuffed with naturally raised meats.

The new pizza, called The Natural, has a multigrain crust sweetened with honey, a red sauce made with organic tomatoes and is topped with all-natural cheese. Available toppings include all-natural chicken sausage and roasted red peppers.

Kelly Buckley, Pizza Hut's chief food innovation officer, said the natural and organic pizza market is virtually untapped.

"It's a big opportunity for us," she said.

The pizzas, which are already being sold in Seattle, Denver and Dallas, will be available nationwide next year, spokesman Chris Fuller said.

A medium Natural pizza with one topping sells for around $11, about $1 more than the average medium, one-topping pizza, Fuller said.

Pizza Turns Into Weekend Treat as Credit Crunch Hits

In what appears to be another sign that consumers are trimming back on restaurant spending, foodservice consultants Technomic found that consumers have shifted their pizza-ordering habits, cutting back on weekdays but ordering more often on weekends.

In 2006, Technomic found that 35 percent of consumers indicated that they would primarily order pizza for dinner during the week, and just over a quarter (28 percent) typically ordered pizza for dinner during the weekend. Today’s consumers, however, report that they order pizza for dinner on the weekend (32 percent) slightly more than they do during the week (29 percent).

“We believe that increasing consumption of pizza on weekends over weekdays is likely tied to consumers’ desire for more economical options,” noted Darren Tristano, Executive Vice President of Technomic Information Services. “Instead of going out for a sit-down meal during the weekend and ordering pizza for dinner during the week, consumers are scaling back by having an affordable pizza meal on the weekend and preparing more weekday meals at home.”

The survey was conducted for Technomic’s new Pizza Consumer Trend Report. Other findings presented and interpreted in the report include:

When eating pizza, health and wellness is a concern for 69 percent of consumers, yet half these consumers do not let their concerns influence their consumption behavior.

To appeal to those truly interested in healthier alternatives, pizza operators must not sacrifice taste, focusing instead upon ingredients that carry a health halo, such as those which are coined as all-natural, fresh and artisan.

Frozen pizza has become increasingly competitive with foodservice pizza, both in terms of overall quality and in providing an affordable pizza option. For foodservice pizza to compete, they will need to focus marketing efforts on what differentiates these products from retail options and why they provide an overall better value.

Consumer preferences, particularly for pizza crust and sauce, vary regionally and ethnically. For example, sweet sauces are favored by more consumers in the Northeast (25 percent) than among Southern (18 percent), Midwestern (17 percent) and Western (13 percent) consumers. Also, pesto-flavored sauce was preferred by 14 percent of all consumers; Asians, however, chose pesto more than any other ethnic group (24 percent).

Hey Cleveland - Here's How to Get Your 23 Cent Papa John's Pizza

You've called us. You've commented on our blogs but what you want to know exactly is how to get your 23-cent Papa John's pizza on Thursday.

Huddle up, team. Here are the official rules for what will likely be noted in Cleveland history as The-Great-23-Cent-Pizza-Day (aka The-Day-None-of-Us-Could-Stop-Talking-About):

1. All 40 Greater Cleveland locations are participating, from Mansfield to Painesville to Uhrichsville (it's south of Canton). Youngstown and Toledo locations also are in on the deal. Click here to find them.

2. Hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

3. You're limited to one pizza per person.

4. It's carryout only. No Internet orders, but phone calls are fine.

5. You get one topping on your large pizza. That means you can have sausage or pepperoni, people, not both.

Papa John's promises they've ordered "massive amounts" of extra food to satisfy the demand. "Crazy-busy," a Westlake employee predicted.

Um, you think?

Make sure your pizza game plan includes comfy shoes; there's bound to be a wait.


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Papa John's Announce Impressive UK Expansion Plans

Papa John’s has opened six outlets in three months as part of its rapid expansion plan to open 25 new stores nationwide this year.

Stores have been opened in Haringey, Morden and Worcester Park and express outlets in Haven holiday camps in Devon, East Sussex and Yorkshire.

The company is now looking to open further outlets in Manchester & the M62 corridor, Leeds, Birmingham, Oxford, London inside the M25, Cambridge, Chester, Newcastle, Bristol and Cheltenham.

Indeed pictured her is Coronation St actor Tom Hudson, who was present to lend a hand at the re-opened, totally re-branded branch in Sale.

Director of Property and Franchising for Papa John's Alan Mason says: "Papa John's has had a great start to the year, now it needs to keep that momentum as it looks to open eight more stores in quarter two and deliver on its commitment of 25 new stores in 2008.

"As Papa John's continues to grow it creates a strong demand for new locations and sites, which are suitable for its stores. Therefore, the company has appointed Colliers CRE as its national retained agents to aid this search as Papa John's looks to expand across the UK."

The Pizzas and Stuff blog is raising money for Special Olympics GB by bringing you the best pizza related stories from around the Web.

Please help us and make a donation by clicking on the widget on the top left or visiting http://www.justgiving.com/pizzasandstuff

If you really like us you can even download the widget to your own site and help us raise even more dough

Thank you