Pizza Hut announced today the opening of its latest restaurant design — and first-ever drive-thru restaurant menu — in Plano, Texas. The new omnichannel-focused restaurant features self-service kiosks, pickup cabinets, a guest-facing pizza station, and the Yum Brands company’s first-ever drive-thru-specific menu.The drive-thru lane will feature a specially curated “Hut N’ Go” menu of ready-made items that customers can order and pick up right away at the drive-thru window.
"At Pizza Hut we are laser focused on amplifying the experience for everyone who engages with our brand, and we understand that guest experience – particularly one that combines delight with digital convenience – can be a key differentiator," Shannon Garcia, President, global franchise markets and global operations for Pizza Hut, said in a statement. "For example, the digital and tech-driven features of this restaurant design in particular – from order kiosks to self-access pick-up cabinets to the digital drive-thru menu – help guests easily guide their own journey with Pizza Hut and allow our restaurant team members to better serve them."
In addition to these new off-premises-focused features, the new Pizza Hut restaurant is also an eco-friendly design, with energy-efficient lighting and ovens, auto-lift fryers, and in-vent hoods.
"From its physical layout to its modern design and digital-forward capabilities, this new restaurant showcases Pizza Hut's legacy of innovation and unique ability to meet changing guest needs in ways that are distinctive to our brand," Aaron Powell, CEO of Pizza Hut, said in a statement. "Beyond just serving delicious pizza, which we do very well, it's equally as critical that our guests enjoy a seamless experience with us that feels personalized to their tastes and needs. This restaurant format harnesses the power of these priorities and, as a result, creates magic that only Pizza Hut can offer."
This energy-efficient, tech-forward restaurant design is a first in the United States, but Pizza Hut said that the design is already used in 80 international markets. At other stores that already use this design, the company said that it drives more guest transactions and in-restaurant traffic than older formats. This remodeled location in the U.S. reinvigorates a 25-year-old Pizza Hut location with its new design.
This redesign was announced one month after Yum Brands’ latest earnings report, in which Pizza Hut reported a 1% decline in same-store sales for the third quarter.
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