I see Pizza Hut is losing its customer base in the UK (not surprised, there is so much more interesting stuff happening there now).
France, on the other hand, seems to adore pizza parlours. I can’t believe the number we have around us. And if there isn’t a parlour then there will be a van that arrives or one of those machines.
We find this extraordinary given the French have a much better alternative - crepes and galettes, which we much prefer to eat.
What went wrong is that their pizza is effing horrible!
Have you ever eater a pizza hut pizza? Even a 3€ one out of a vending machine in a French car park is better!
especially reading of this rat infested branch
As we prefer crepes and galettes we never eat pizzas, so I had no idea.
I have been to Pizza Hut (UK) probably twice in the past 15 years.
The pizzas are nothing special, and massively overpriced (OK I know about staff costs and other overheads, but still).
As the BBC article points out, given that the “restaurant experience” is barely one step above McDonalds, you might as well get a “gourmet pizza” from the supermarket and bake it at home.
France or Pizza Hut?
We didn’t even eat at Pizza Hut in the US - it’s terrible. (The only US fast food that I eat here is from Popeyes in Paris across from the Gare du Nord…and the Five Guys inside.)
I got poisoned in one of their restos back in the 1990’s and never ever ate or bought anything from them again. We were all of us so ill later that day but obviously had no proof other than eating only there and nothing after and then to cap it all before leaving, kids were eating from the buffet bit and putting the used spoons back in the food and their parents did nothing!
We’re within walking distance of a Pizza Hut takeaway and have them occasionally because it’s so easy to order and they always have an offer on, we sit in the pub next door and order from the app which sends us a notification when they’re ready to collect. Any leftovers are eaten cold the next day for lunch.
Do you know what I do. When its “American week” in Lidl I buy several of their €2,49 soft dough cheese frozen pizzas in the frozen section and use them as a base for adding all sorts of nice toppings. These have the best dough I have tasted for a long time and even buying a ready rolled one is almost the same price without any topping. So handy if the kids call and want to stay for a snack so I always make sure I have plenty of cheese in and tins of mushrooms, fresh tomatoes and other bits.
‘Lucky’ to have both of these fine establishments in Nantes. Plus a Burger King about 200m away at the rondpoint.
Last Pizza Hut I can remember was $2 all-you-can -eat lunch when I was in grad school in Indiana 45 years ago. It is impossible to ruin pizza, but they try .
I just go and laugh out loud. It’s a parody of bad food. A lot of it doesn’t really exist there. Nobody buys bottled hot dogs. Closest thing to it in the US are Vienna Sausages (not found in Wein) which aren’t fit for animal consumption.
I think, generally speaking, proper hand made pizzas in France are of a high quality. They certainly are around us. The pizza vans seem to be particularly good, and when you’re 30 minutes away from any restaurant that can cook you a pizza they’re very popular. The woman who did the best pizza van around recently took over a restaurant/bar and shop just five minutes up the road. We’ve been a few times although not had her pizzas there as all her food is really good.
Only bought a Pizza Hut pizza once in France, when OH was in hospital, the food was awful, and she begged me to get her a takeaway pizza.
PH didn’t seem too bad 40 years ago in London, but tastes change and grow.
Pizza in France used to be terrible, with bases like cardboard, minimal topping and little flavour. Since pizza became the national dish it is sometimes possible to get a good one in a resto, but it’s still not common to find a crisp, tasty crust and quality toppings with a balanced flavour. There’s a resto in Anost across the valley from us that’s sometimes good and sometimes not. Mind you, take away pizza in the UK is no better.
Based on experience, I’d say pizza is actually very difficult to do well.
I don’t touch anything apart from these pizzas simply for the base to use to make better offerings. Last night I threw out a big pack of bacon rashers after listening to the news report about the nitrates giving bladder cancer, not that I eat much, maybe rashers twice a year but I stopped all ham a long time ago. None of this american stuff is made anywhere other than germany if you read the labels.
You can’t beat homemade from scratch using yeast and good flour if you have the time and inclination.
You know that you practically need to live on bacon for this to be a risk factor and even then, for a woman, the risk goes from just over 1 in 50000 to just under 2 in 50000. Not enough to lose sleep over.
Listening to the report turned me right off hence chucking it all out after reading what the chemicals were on the package which had nitrates every other word. I have become quite keen on reading packets of stuff these days and if I see something I don’t like the look of or how much salt, sugar etc, I don’t indulge.
Pizza Hut is just junk. France already has way better pizza outlets.
Find a Pizza Express instead if in the U.K.
Pizza hut is Whitbread leisure, or was. I had the manager of Streatham branch as a client back in late 90’s, she told me it cost 50p for the pizza the rest was profit. Whitbread leisure also owned Costa coffee which they recently sold to cococola for a £1 I believe it was. So sounds like Whitbread is in trouble.