Your Pizza Hut May Soon Look Like Chipotle originally appeared on Parade.
Pizza Huts of yesteryear were magical places. You sat at a table with your family under a stained-glass Tiffany lamp and ordered several pan pizzas from a waitress, treating yourself to the salad bar while you waited for your pie to arrive. Unfortunately, sit-down Pizza Hut locations become rarer by the day. As consumer appetites shifted toward take-out and delivery, the red-roofed chain shifted its priorities away from dine-in service. Then the pandemic all but sealed the deal, with many formerly full-service Pizza Hut locations closing their dining rooms.
Much like Starbucks, Pizza Hut is banking on a big redesign to regain its top spot in the pizza kingdom. But rather than leaning into the brand’s nostalgia, Pizza Hut is emulating modern fast casual leaders like Chipotle and Cava.
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CNN went inside a remodeled Pizza Hut store, and it looks nothing like the one from your childhood. This store was designed for people on the go. In addition to a drive-thru and self-serve ordering kiosks, the store also features a central kitchen, where customers can see staff making their pizza, reminiscent of the assembly line at Chipotle. It also has a stack of heated shelves storing carryout orders for easy pick-up, reminiscent of Little Caesars’ Pizza Portal. “The time is right when we think about a post-pandemic world that has become much more digital,” a Pizza Hut exec told CNN, explaining the logic behind the redesign.
For those hankering for an analog Pizza Hut experience, though, not all is lost. The chain still operates several Pizza Hut Classic locations across the country, featuring the iconic architecture on the outside and the red booths with checkered tablecloths on the inside. “It’s just like I remember,” food blogger Beauty and the Beets wrote, “with a jukebox too!”
Your Pizza Hut May Soon Look Like Chipotle first appeared on Parade on Jul 12, 2025
This story was originally reported by Parade on Jul 12, 2025, where it first appeared.
