People Online Are Cracking Up At These 30 Repurposed Pizza Hut Buildings Shared In This Online Group

The subreddit's moderator j1ggy, who introduces himself as an average internet nerd, said he got the idea for the subreddit when former Pizza Hut architecture was mentioned in a comment thread that drifted away from its initial topic. "I love retro gaming. I also love general retro culture, which is probably why former Pizza Hut architecture has always stood out to me."

j1ggy considers the subreddit the perfect medium for this collection. The first few hundred members to join were people from that first discussion, while later thousands joined, which gave them momentum on the platform, attracting even more members. "People are literally driving around their cities and towns taking pictures of all the former Pizza Hut locations they know of for our subreddit and I think that's really cool."

Pizza Hut has had quite an evolution. First, in 1958, the 19 Frank and 26-year-old Dan Carney brothers borrowed $600 from their mom, and bought used kitchen equipment to open their Italian-American restaurant in Wichita, Kansas. In 1959, Pizza Hut became a franchise, a business model where brand owners allow another party to sell their products. Pizza Hut does it in exchange for a starting fee, royalties and advertising fee, but the franchisee also has to pay for the construction of the restaurant and inventory. The franchise quickly took off with 1000 outlets all over the world by 1971

The classic red shingle roof design was created by their frat brother, architect Richard D. Burke, then applied globally in 1969. There are speculations that the architect was inspired by Ernest J. Kump’s Foothill College design. The company could not afford the upfront fee Richard D. Burke was asking and made a deal, paying him $100 for every restaurant with his design, not knowing how much they would expand.

In 1977, the brothers sold the company to PepsiCo for an estimated $310. Around that time, it became the world's largest pizza chain. Interestingly, one of the brothers, Frank, became a Papa Jones franchisee. The brothers were involved in philanthropy and helped over 100 other new entrepreneurs. Frank died in 2020, he was 82 at that time.

Pizza Hut expanded to almost 7496 restaurants in the US alone by 2019, then decided to close about 500 and put a bigger focus on delivery and drive-through. The same year, the company decided to bring back its old logo and building design.

The company's marketing isn't based on nostalgia alone; they go hand in hand with current trends, by expanding menu and parent company Yum! Brands, partnering with vegan food company Beyond Meat, and heavily branding themselves as equitable and inclusive. Yum! Brands is PepsiCo's fast food division, controlling KFC and Taco Bell as well as Pizza Hut.

Pizza Hut's marketing is actually quite innovative, from their introduction of stuffed crust to delivering high up: in 2001 to the International Space Station and in 2016 to Mount Kilimanjaro. Gamers and other geeks are also a part of Pizza Hut's customer base. From 2013, XBOX 360 players could order pizza directly by console, in 2021, Pizza Hut introduced green "Mutagen ranch" as a homage to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.