When did Pizza Hut start doing all-you-can-eat? What happened to Pizza Hut in Australia, and why are there not many left?

First, let’s address the elephant in the room. Pizza Hut Dine In’s and All You Can Eat still exist!

However, as of today, there are only eight left in the entirety of Australia! Yes only eight left!!! In 2016, it was reported that there were only 15 left!

Picture this, it’s the mid to late 90s, and you are between the age of 7 and 11. You have been invited to one of your close friends from school Birthday party. It is not just any old Birthday party, your friend has chosen the most popular place to have a Birthday dinner at, the then famous Pizza Hut.
But to make this famous American junk food restaurant better, they offer All You Can Eat Pizza. The Ninja Turtles junk food of choice, you can eat unlimited amounts of the stuff.

Outside, the Pizza Hut is instantly recognizable in its unique hut building style. The roof is red, and there are white wooden panels alongside each triangular like window. There is a big red door for the entrance.

Your parents pay for your meal, you walk in, it’s quite dark and brick wall on the inside. There are wooden tables with booths to eat at, a table facing each window, and brass fittings everywhere from a bygone era of the 70s and 80s. There is a salad bar, but you don’t make friends with salad. The only thing worth getting from the salad bar was cold shredded cheese to put on your pizza and bacon bits.
There is a Pizza and Pasta bar, with 5 or 6 pizzas to choose from, mostly classics, like Supreme and Ham and Pineapple. The Pizza bar also has three stainless steel rectangular pots, one larger one filled with pasta, and the other two with a bolognese sauce or carbonara to choose from

Not only is there a Pizza and pasta buffet, there is a Dessert bar, highlighted by a Neon sign. There is a soft serve machine that you can have unlimited ice cream from. Next to the machine are three stainless steel pumps, full of the ice cream toppings of Chocolate, Strawberry and Caramel.
Next to the pumps are clear plastic containers with small stainless steel scoops. The containers contain sprinkles, peanuts or chocolate buttons for your ice cream.
To top it all of their is a selection of other desserts next to your topping selections, including cubes of Jelly and a stainless steel pot of Chocolate Mousse.
This was peak Pizza Hut for a Primary school-aged kid in Australia in the 1990s.

This is weird for me. I didn’t like Pizza as a kid. Well, I didn’t like the traditional style of Pizza (until I discovered plain cheese or BBQ sauce pizza’s). However, Pizza Hut was such a memorable and important place while growing up in Australia in the 1990’s. This was true even for someone like me who did not like Pizza! It was the place to have your birthday in the mid 90s!

Sadly today there is only eight Pizza Huts left today to Dine In at.

If you are lucky enough to live near one, that is great. They technically never left. Your local one may have only closed down in the last 10 years. However, the late 90’s saw hundreds of Dine In Pizza Hut’s close in Australia. This was due to cheap Takeaway Pizzas via Dominos and its cheap vouchers and online ordering systems starting to take over. Personally, I need to travel interstate to dine in at one today. There are none left in South Australia. There are also none in the NT, ACT, and WA. Only one remains in regional Victoria.

Back at the height of Pizza Hut’s popularity, there was a Dine In Pizza Hut in every major metropolitan suburb. You could also find one in many regional towns in Australia. There were hundreds of Pizza Huts to dine at across the country.

In 1988 it was reported that “Pizza Hut Australia currently has 110 company-owned units and 69 franchised units”, so there was 179 in total in 1988. I grew up on the outskirts of the southern Adelaide suburbs. There were two Pizza Huts within a five-minute drive each way, and many scattered all over South Australia, however there is none today, with the last one Marion closing in 2022.

Pizza Hut Australia states in 1993 there are more pizza outlets per capita in Australia than the USA, and it was reported in July 1993 there was now 202 Dine In Pizza Hut’s in Australia.

Somehow, during the early to mid 90s in Australia, it became the coolest place to have a Birthday party. Forget the Happy Meal and Ice Cream cake at Macca’s or HJ’s. It was about eating as much Pizza and Soft Serve ice cream as you could. You ate until you got sick.

It was also affordable and family friendly, so it was not uncommon to have large family gatherings, or children’s sports teams ‘ end-of-year meetups at Pizza Hut in the 90s.

I am an 85 baby, and sadly I am old enough to remember when Pizza Hut was a regular dine in restaurant. One reason I remember this is that I hated traditional pizzas as a young kid. My food of choice was a submarine sandwich from Pizza Hut.

Pizza Hut starts its life in Australia as a decent dine-in, proper, family-friendly Pizza Restaurant in the 70s, and this lasts through to the early 90s.
The slogan during 1990 for Pizza Hut Australia was “Making it great”.

1980s

My early memories of Pizza Hut growing up were that it was quite a fancy family restaurant to visit. It had a unique interior design style. The atmosphere was quite dark and cozy with booths, and brick walls. The highlight for me when visiting Pizza Hut was the cool kids toys and gingerbread. They would give these out for additional money. The Ginger Bread was available before the dessert bars, and part of a kids meal. I actually remember they were by the front counter wrapped in clear plastic. It was a long, rectangular gingerbread biscuit, covered in icing and hundreds of thousands.

I also have early memories of a very popular Pizza Hut promotional item, that came from Pizza Hut, and it was Land Before Time Hand Puppets. Not only did kids collect them, but adults would often buy them and attach them to parts of their car such as their towbars. They were $1.95 ($5 today) with any pizza, and insanely popular. The puppets were so popular Pizza Hut repeated the hand puppets multiple times.

In 1989 Pizza Hut did a massive expansion in Australia, purchasing 226 Dial-a-Dino’s stores outlets (176 restaurants and 50 delivery units) to expand its delivery network to a national level.

“After rationalisation of duplicated operations and the addition of 20 Dino’s outlets when the West Australian part of the deal is completed in a few weeks, total outlets will reach about 325. Pizza Hut now clearly controls the Australian pizza market, which is estimated to be valued at $1 billion a year. Although statistics are hard to come by in this market segment, it is estimated Pizza Hut now controls around one-third of the total Australian market.” It was reported

In the $200 million home delivery field, the company formed by the merger -Pizza Hut Delivery – is far and away the leading light. It will have 150 stores; the nearest competitor, Domino’s, has about 40.

Not only did Pizza Hut expand its market share in the delivery field, it also expanded its representation right across Australia.”
This was reported in 1989.
Pizza Hut Australia was the king of pizza company in the early 90s.

1990

In 1990, Pizza Hut Australia introduced a new pizza to Aussies. It is the BBQ Meatlovers (my personal favourite). It becomes a staple of the Aussie Pizza business to this very day.

1990 see’s Pizza Hut Australia score a toy for one the biggest children’s franchise of the early 90’s in Australia, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle badges.
I was only five years old in 1990. TMNT the cartoon, had just come to Australia! I thought these badges were the coolest thing ever. Many kids actually wore them to school, and somehow I scored one. They were sold for $1.99 with any Pizza, ($5 today).

Pizza Hut was not the super cheap junk food restaurant it later become however, and for some it’s downfall, for others they loved what Pizza Hut became, including me. A large Pizza and 4 drinks would cost $19.90 for their 1990 Family Meal ($48 today).

Pizza Hut Cool Kids Club

In the early 90’s Pizza Hut Australia launched the Pizza Hut Cool Kid’s Club. You would sign up and get card, and you were meant to get free gifts with every meal. Included in the membership was small card like a credit card, and a joke book. I feel like I had one of these cards, but I don’t think I ever used it often. I am not sure how long Pizza Hut ran the Kids Club, but most of their promos for kids toys were at an additional cost, and not free and part of the Kids Club throughout most of the 1990s.
There was some Agro cups given away as part of the Kids Club in 1990, however, and cards expired as late as 1992.
As seen in the menu above, it was before the launch of All You Can Eat Dessert in 1992 and the new Kids Meals.

Another toy that was given out in the early 90s for the Pizza Hut Cool Kids Club in Australia was Monsters In My Pocket. There was 42 to collect, and each box came with three monsters.

Book It

Another cool thing Pizza Hut started doing in the 90’s in Australia was Book It. Pizza Hut rewarded thousands of kids for reading books with pizzas and badges!

The Book It program continues in Australia throughout the 90s.

1991

In 1991, Pizza Hut acquired the rights to a new IP kids product. The franchise was huge. It was recently introduced to Aussie TVs and was the iconic The Simpsons. In 91, this was a big deal. This was one of the early licensed cups Pizza Hut sold in Australia, and licensed cups became a staple throughout the 90s.

1991 also sees Agro Finger Puppets released as a kids’ promotion item.

1992

Australia entered a recession in the early 1990s. Junk food companies had to come up with creative ways for Aussies to spend their money in the early 90s following the recession.

Pizza Hut Australia experimented with a new concept to deliver value for money during this period. They launched the All You Can Eat Dessert bar.
Pizza Hut Australia first introduced the ‘All You Can Eat’ concept in 1991, starting with desserts.

An adult could add the “All You Can Eat Dessert” option to their meal in 1992 by paying an additional $2.95au. This would be $7 today.
Pizza Hut Australia also changed the kids’ meal dessert in 1992. They switched from a gingerbread to the dessert bar. It would cost $3.95 for this package ($10 today).
The kids meal consisted of a Pizza or bowl of spaghetti, and ‘all you can eat’ dessert for this price.

Pizza Hut Australia introduced an “All You Can Eat” Pizza and Pasta deal in 1992. However, it was only available two nights a week: Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The busy days and lunch were full service menus still, such as Friday and Saturday nights. At its introduction during the recession, it was $5 for an adult, ($11.60 today) and $2.95 ($7 today) for a child. Pretty good value for a Tuesday or Wednesday night dinner! Pizza Hut Australia also changed its slogan in 1992 to Hit The Hut.

Following the huge success of the hand puppets for The Land Before Time in Australia, Pizza Hut Australia launched a set for the iconic Aussie Blinky Bill character. This was aligned with the release of the 1992 animated movie. They were $1.95 ($4.50 today) with any pizza, with a limit of 2 per customer.

1992 also sees Pizza Hut create jingles with their ads for their Delivery Phone Number. If you grew up watching a lot of tv in the 90s in Australia, I’m sure this jingle is still in your mind. The jingle is likely ingrained in your head. You probably remember Pizza Hut’s phone number to this very day.

Now this jingle varied from State to State, and even region sometimes. I’m from SA. I had one of the most common phone numbers and jingles used in Australia. It’s the one they use to this very day.

13 11 66. (One, Three, Double One, Double Six is how it was sung.)

However, different states and regions had their own phone numbers. Double one was the common theme in the phone numbers.

Some numbers used are 481 11 66, 92 11 11, 892-1111. They must of paid the people to sing the jingle with multiple versions of the phone number! Check out other States slightly change jingle in the ads below.

For the release of Beauty and the Beast, Pizza Hut also used 3D plastic cups in Australia in 1992.

1992 also sees Pizza Hut do another The Simpsons collection of toys. It features The Simpson’s “Going Bush” in outdoor and camping themes. I actually remember when these toys came out, and somehow I got a Maggi one, and when I saw them on TV, I wanted them so badly. The Simpsons had well and truly taken over the youth of Australia in 1992.
Oddly they their little “Go Bush” camping settings are not from any actual Simpson episodes. They were $1 with any Pizza purchase.

1993

Pizza Hut Australia in 1993 continues with the All You Can Eat, and adds an extra night, Monday Nights, to its All You Can Eat. Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday are still normal dine-in service.

Pizza Hut Australia also introduced the Big Foot Pizza in 1993. I’m not sure why, but I was fascinated by the Big Foot Pizza in 1993. Sadly my parents never ordered one due to it being too expensive.
The Big Foot Pizza was a huge 21 slice Pizza, and it was $16.90 in 1993, which would be $48 today. Quite a lot for just one single flavour pizza! Pizza Hut never seem to bring it back, so I assume it did not do very well.

In 1993, Pizza Hut also launched a backpack. Let me tell you, as an 8-year-old, I wanted one so badly. So many kids had them at school! The backpack was quite small, but screamed the 90’s in its design. It would cost $4.95 with any pizza purchase, or $11 today.

May 1993 finally see’s Pizza Hut go all in on “All You Can Eat” . Pizza Hut does All You Can Eat Pizza, Pasta 7 days a week, and lunchtime and dinner services too. It was known as the “Pizza + Pasta + Salad” deal. I’m assuming all you can eat dessert was extra.

The early 90s also saw the first version of The Pizza Hut Gang, featuring Pizza Pete and Pizza Penny.

1993 also sees Pizza Hut trial delivery school canteens! Yes in NSW and QLD certain schools had access to Pizza Hut in their canteens. Imagine the uproar today.

By July 1993, there is 402 Pizza Hut outlets in Australia: 203 restaurants, 172 home-delivery-only units, 15 Pizza Hut Express stores and 12 kiosks. It opened 40 outlets in 1992 alone, and planned to open another 45 by the end of 1993.
Pizza Hut accounted for 59% of the pizzas that were home delivered in Australia in 1993.

1994

In the first three months of 1994, when Pizza Hut Australia’s sales slumped 11%, and Pizza Hut Australia needed to take drastic action. It was time to go All You Can Eat, everyday and all day.

The Pizza, Pasta and Salad deal was $6.95 ($15.50 today) in 1994, and now ran 7 days a week, and Pizza Hut Australia heavily advertised this. This price was in effect all day for lunch and dinner.
Competition from other fast food companies (Value Meals) and the stiff competition in Aussie pizza market, encouraged Pizza Hut to make this change in 1993. In 1994, it even reduced the prices of all its pizzas by 20% to combat the competition. Both KFC and McDonald’s increase the value of their meals. KFC Australia makes ads comparing its family meal prices to pizza prices, despite being owned by the same parent company. Macca’s Australia had also introduced “Extra” Value meals in 1993, hot off the early 90s recession in Australia.

1994 also see’s Pizza Hut Australia’s most famous character, pizza delivery boy, “Dougie”, played by Diarmid Heidenreich first appear.
Not as well remembered, but Kellie from Hi 5 also starts her media career for Pizza Hit, and is the Pizza Hut dine in girl in all ads in 1993 and 1994 joining Dougie.

1994 see’s Pizza Hut Australia renamed the All You Can Eat meal deal, to “The Works”, and this name remains until this day. The Works includes All-You-Can-Eat everything, including Dessert, on top of pizza, pasta, and Salad. It also makes the lunchtime price cheaper by $1. In 1994 it is $6.95 ($15.50 today) for Dinner, and $5.95 ($13.30 today) for Lunch. Pizza Hut Australia’s slogan also changes to Slice Of Life in 1994.

Now as an 9 year old in 1994, and over the next couple of years this was peak Pizza Hut. Sorry Gen X’ers and Boomers that see this as the downfall of Pizza Hut Australia. I’m sure to accommodate the price of the buffet the food quality dipped slightly however. Suddenly family gatherings and birthday parties started to happen at Pizza Hut, the value was insane.
Not only that but suddenly every kid wanted their Birthday party at Pizza Hut! Every couple of months during the mid 90s, starting from 1994, you would find yourself at a mate’s Birthday celebration. Dinner before a sleepover at a Pizza Hut was also common. It truly was an amazing time growing up if you were a Pizza lover and wanted to eat a fuck ton of Pizza!.
I didn’t love most pizza. I was a weirdo. However, I didn’t mind a cheese pizza. I loved the pasta at Pizza Hut. And like every kid, I devoured bowls and bowls of Pizza Hut dessert.

1994 see’s Pizza Hut promote the forgotten animated movie of that year, The Page Master with special cups again.

The introduction of the All You Can Eat “The Works” pizza buffet sees customer traffic has soared 53% from its 1993 numbers. Pizza Hut Australia sales profits go up 85% in 1993 as a result of growth in customer traffic and sales volume, lower operating costs and improved efficiency.

In 1993, Pizza Hut’s two main Australian franchisees were Jardine Matheson (a Hong Kong company), who had 126 outlets in Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia, and the Kailis family, which had 32 in Western Australia. Both franchise owners were developing new, larger restaurants in 1993, inspired by the first “next-generation” Pizza Hut, which opened at Browns Plains, a southern suburb of Brisbane, in July. The restaurants held 200 people, compared to 92 in the average Pizza Hut, and used new fixtures and fittings.

When Pizza Hut launched the Works, it was priced at $7.95 for dinner and $5.95 for lunch. Dinner sales boomed, but lunch trade was sluggish. In March 1993, the Works was cut to $4.95 for lunch and $6.95 for dinner. Lunch sales rose 62% in NSW and 60% in Queensland, and dinner sales increased 17% in both states. Pizza Hut spokesperson said: “We discovered that one dollar makes a huge difference at lunch, but not at dinner.”

Home-delivery accounted for 53% of the Australian pizza market, up from 45% in 1992, and Pizza Hut started adding more home delivery outlets . Home-delivery contributed for 47% of Pizza Hut’s sales nationally, with dine-in representing 31% and takeaway 22%.

1995

Domino’s begins it’s national expansion in Australia from 1995 onwards, and the Aussie Pizza Wars heat up, resulting in cheaper The Works Deals and Pizza Deals. In 1995 you can get two pizzas for $15.90 ($33 today) , equal to $7.95 each ($16.95 today).

1995 also sees Pizza Hut drop weekday lunch prices to $4.95 ($10.50 today) for the all-you-can-eat The Works.

Casper Movie Hand Puppets

To promote the 1995 Casper movie, Pizza Hut released Casper movie hand puppets that also glowed in the dark. Following the success of the Flipper squirters, oddly there is also Capser Squirters released in Australia. These also glowed in the dark.

1995 also see’s the release of Star War’s figures and collectable plastic cups, this was before the remaster and re-release of the trilogy too.

1995 also see’s unlicensed AFL trading cards under the Club 10 brand. The cards featured Gavin Wanganeen, Wayne Carey, Greg Williams, Gavin Brown, Gary Ablett, Jason Dunstall, Garry Lyon, Stewart Lowe and Tony Lockett. Club 10 was the manager agency behind some major AFL Players.

Official NRL cards are also released in 1995 under The Footy Works brand, the full set includes Ricky Stuart, Laurie Daley, Allan Langer, Paul Harragon, Steve Renouf, Andrew Ettingshausen, Steve Menzies, Brad Fittler and Terry Lamb.

1995 also see’s Pizza Hut Australia launch their own set of characters, that are short lived. The second edition of the Pizza Hut Gang. Spence is the main character that is heavily influenced by Bart Simpson. Cosmo was a very 90s looking dog, Booty was the Girl and Big Al was the dinosaur. Multiple toys and cups are available over the next year or two featuring these Pizza Hut characters. Kid Works ads featuring other toys also feature them

1996

Pizza Hut Australia gets on the Street Sharks bandwagon and does drink toppers. They were $1.95 each in 1996 ($4 today).

1996 see’s the return of badges again, and this time is based on one of the most popular tv shows at the time, the Australian 90’s Gladiators, free in a $4.95 Kids Works meal.

Another popular item that Pizza Hut gave away in 1996 for children, and hot off that mid 90s craze of the books, was Goosebump figures. It was glow-in-the-dark and only $2.95 with any Kids Works meal. A mask was available for free with the meal, too.

The Pizza Wars continue in Australia, and Pizzas drop again in price in Australia, Domino’s continues its national expansion. Takeaway pizza’s now drop to $12.90 ($27 today) for two, equating to $6.45 ($13.40 today) each. The cheap Work prices stay in place to encourage people to dine out. The prices for The Works were $4.95 for lunch and $6.95 for dinner, and weekend lunch, in 1996.

1996 also see’s Pizza Hut drop Dougie as their main character in ads. During March 1996, Diarmid Heidenreich was involved in a car accident and was arrested with charges of drunk driving, driving while disqualified and negligent driving causing grievous bodily harm.

Diarmid Heidenreich himself needed facial surgery, and his female passenger was also injured. Pizza Hut made a statement that he wasn’t an employee and was going to continue to use him, and even made jokes about him losing his license in his ads, and using a push bike to deliver pizza’s.

However by 1997 Pizza Hut no longer featured him in their Pizza commercials.

On March 26 1998, he was found guilty, it took the Jury just over an hour to find him guilty of dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm while under the influence of alcohol and drugs in Vaucluse.

Heidenreich was arrested and served 77 weekends of periodic detention. A few years later, however, he returned to acting. In 2001 Heidenreich had a leading role in Water Rats in 2000 and 2001 as Senior Constable Matthew Quinn. In 2003, he had a four-episode guest role in McLeod’s Daughters.

For the movie release of Flipper, Pizza Hut releases collectible figures that squirted water. For some odd reason I thought these things were cool because of the novelty of them squirting water! There was also Flipper cups for the kids meal too.

Monster Eye Ball Straws

In the USA Taco Bell (same parent company) did them, but in Australia Pizza Hut did Monster Eye Ball Straws.

Pizza Hut Mini Basket Balls

Pizza Hut repeated a popular USA promotion in the mid 90s of mini Rawlings Basket Balls. I loved my mini basketball and kept it for many years.

1997

For the early summer of 1997, Pizza Hut spend on a $1.5 million summer campaign featuring Dougie.

Dougie is finally dropped from Aussie Pizza Hut advertising mid 1997. Pizza Hut Australia often recycles North American and UK Pizza Hut ads. These ads often feature famous celebrities and include Australian voice overs. Although they have some comedic value, they just don’t hold the same quality as the home made ones, and it’s not the same without Dougie.

1997 see’s Pizza Hut Australia launch Stuffed Crust Pizza in Australia, with cheese baked into the actual crust. This leads to all sorts of crust weird things in the 2000’s, and Dominos putting cheese into their bases too, and cooking their Pizza’s to the edge.

Pizza Hut gives offers a Shaq drink bottle with purchases for $1 in 1997.

Eagle Boys has the 13% share of the home-delivery market in 1997, but is about to begin massive expansion. Pizza Hut has 40%, and Pizza Haven (15%), with Domino’s coming in last. This is about to change however.

1998

The start of the end of an icon. Pizza Huts Dine Ins start to close all over Australia. It was reported in The Age in April 1998 that many Pizza Hut’s in Melbourne had closed down with auction houses selling things off. Pizza Hut does not leave the market completely, but only well-performing stores remain.

One of the two of my local Pizza Hut closes, and in 1998 the closed one is rebranded La Porchetta, an Italian restaurant, and many Pizza Huts convert to this famous Melbourne chain. Most of these don’t last long, only a few survive today.

1998 see’s cheap puzzles to help promote A Bugs Life in Australia. Pizza Hut Australia now starts doing cheaper giveaway with their kids meal focusing more on puzzles.

1999

1999 see’s Dominos massive expansion in Australia, and it focuses on quality on its Pizza, and never mention prices on tv, however it does feature prices in its letter box drops.
In 1999, Domino’s says its TV ads are “clean”, as managing director Fel Bevacqua puts it. “We want our brand to be built on taste and quality, not price,” he says.
It is reported that Domino’s sales have more than doubled in the past three years. Domino’s now ranks second in the national pizza-delivery market, behind Pizza Hut. Domino’s in 1999 now operates in nearly all states except Victoria and South Australia.
Unlike Pizza Hut through through mid 90s, Dominos focus on Takeaway and Delivery only, while Pizza Hut Australia juggles Takeaway and Delivery with it’s All You Can Eat dine model. This ultimately proves to be its downfall, as through the late 90s Home Delivery Aussie sales increase as customers want more convenience.

Pizza Hut, on an international level, gets behind the new Star Wars movie in 1999, Episode One. Australia gets collectible cups and a puzzle.

2000’s

Pizza Hut Australia rebranded to its modern international logo in the year 2000.

The national phone numbers and Hot Docket vouchers in 2000. By the year 2000, the standard voucher for Pizza’s was now as low as 2 for $13.95. Note the different phone numbers for various states.

The Dine In Menu in the Year 2000. It appears Pizza Hut was not doing All You Can Eat in the Year 2000, according to their website. There is no mention of The Works on their website in 2000. The Dine In Buffets and All You Can Eat Works deal do not make a comeback until 2016, according to media reports.

The Takeaway Menu in 2000

Pizza Hut Australia does some really cool multimedia promotions in the early 2000s, including videos, DVDs, hire vouchers and even EA video games.

In 2002, you 2 pizza’s and one the choice of 4 different games. Medal of Honour, Need 4 Speed Underground, The Sims, and a Lord Of The Rings game, all for $29.95. They repeated a similar deal in 2002 including The Sims 2, Battlefield 2 and NFS Most Wanted in 2006.

In 2002 Video Ezy and Pizza Hut enter an official partnership, and Video Ezy shops even open in some dine in areas of some Pizza Huts!

2001 sees Pizza Hut become a major sponsor of the first Big Brother Australia. When you vote people off, there is even an option to order Pizzas.

2002 Victoria is the only state that does not have Domino’s yet. 

2003 sees’s Dominos biggest and most aggressive expansion. It announces plans to spend over $ 60 million over the next three years on aggressive expansion throughout Australia.

Dominos still has no stores in Victoria yet, but has recently entered South Australia and is doing massive expansion in Sydney, , particularly on the north shore. It is reported that
“Domino’s share of the Australian pizza market is 22 per cent, behind Pizza Hut. As 50 per cent of pizza makers are mum-and-dad stores or supermarkets, Domino’s expects growth at the expense of these two areas, mainly in home delivery.”

In 2003, Pizza Hut launched “Gourmet Stuff” pizzas, which failed terribly. They were cancelled after 4 months.  The Gourmet Stuff pizzas sold for $14.95, compared with $9.95 for a standard Pizza Hut product and between $15 and $20 for products from proper pizzeria.

Rival pizza retailers were not surprised that Gourmet Stuff flopped.

“No one associates Pizza Hut with gourmet pizza,” said one rival. “Pizza Hut customers weren’t interested in paying $14.95 for a pizza and the people who pay $14.95 would never buy anything from Pizza Hut.”

In 2004, it was reported that there was a massive sell-off of 18 Pizza Hut franchise stores. Niche accounting firm Sims Partners was looking for buyers for 18 Pizza Hut stores. The practice was appointed receivers for the S&K Group, which owns seven stores, and the J&D Group, which owns the other 11. The S&K Group’s stores were in Sydney’s North Shore in suburbs such as Lane Cove, Turramurra and Hornsby. Others were in Griffiths, Wagga Wagga and Albury. J&D had three outlets on the Central Coast and others around Dapto.

The Pizza market in Australia is reported in 2005 as According to BIS Shrapnel, Domino’s is the largest pizza chain in Australia, with about 16% of the national pizza market, followed by Pizza Hut (15%) and Eagle Boys (5%). Dominos reports it as Market share as Domino’s 40% Pizza Hut 37% Pizza Haven 11% Eagle Boys 12% for 2004. Either way, Domino’s has been the market leader in Australia since 2005.

In 2006, New Zealand fast food company Restaurant Brands and franchise owner announaced sale agreements for 35 of its 50 Australian Pizza Hut stores, and would get help from franchiser Yum to exit a further 10 stores early. The Pizza Hut stores in Victoria have impacted the company’s profitability since their acquisition in 2000.

In 2009, Pizza Hut announced a rebrand of some of its stores to Pasta Hut. It allocates $4 million to promote its new brand, Pasta Hut, in Australia. Pizza Hut Australia did a poll to change the name, however the votes go against the Pasta Hut name, and Pizza Hut never officially changed it name in Australia

What killed Pizza Hut in Australia?

Depending on who you ask, many Gen X’rs will tell you it was when Pizza Hut Australia dropped their quality and went all you can eat.

For me personally, and from a business perspective, this was actually Pizza Hut Australia’s peak time and its most successful period ever in Australia.

However their Dine in buffet was also part of the downfall, as their business model did not evolve as fast as Dominos Australia.

The truth is, Dominos Australia killed Pizza Hut Australia. Domino’s Australia focused on delivery (in particular internet ordering) during its national expansion in the late-90s, Pizza Hut focused on its multiple experiences including Dine In, Takeaway and Delivery, but not the actual ordering component, especially online.

Dominos popularised the home delivery and online ordering of pizza (on a national level) in Australia, and people no longer felt the need to dine at Pizza Huts due to the quality, price and convenience of Dominos.

The focus on cheap, mid-quality pizza’s that were easy to order. Part of that focus in the early 2000s was its focus on Online Ordering, Pizza Hut wa juggling both dine in, takeaway and deliveries, while not focusing enough on the Online Internet convenience of takeaway, something we take for granted today.

Domino’s Australia started under-cutting the price of Pizzas in 2000s as the Aussie Pizza Wars raged on, with coupons for their traditional range of pizzas being as cheap as $3.

Despite Domino’s failing to outperform Pizza Hut in the mid to late 90s, Domino’s had successfully popularised home delivery in Australia, laying the groundwork for its future success, by focusing its entire business on delivery and takeaway only.

2013 is the proper end of Pizza Hut as the country’s leading pizza chain, with the Dominos profits growing insanely. IBISWorld figures showed that from 2012 – 2014, Domino’s market share in Australia more than doubled from 8.5% to 18% with profits soaring from $258 to $561 million. Mirroring Pizza Hut’s capitalisation of the 1980s trend of dining out, Domino’s were now taking advantage of the millennial generational shift to online ordering and desire for convenience.

Dominos and its focus on cheap pizzas, focus on its Online and app ordering systems and quick delivery is the reason why Pizza Hut Australia died in Australia.

Pizza Hut Australia Today

Pizza Hut still exists today, but it is a shadow of its former self. There are 273 Pizza Huts left in Australia, but the majority are now Take Away and Delivery only. 2016 see’s the return of the buffet at some restaurants.

There is only eight left to Dine In, however they do offer the ability to All You Can Eat via The Works meal in modern times again.

The last ones are, as of 2025 NSW, Windsor, Minto, Orange, for Qld Gympie, Browns Plains, Toowoomba, for Victoria Ballarat, and Tassie, New Town.

Last year I took a trip to Tasmania to visit Hobart.
Imagine my surprise when, while visiting Tasmania, I discovered that a proper, all you can eat, dine in, 90’s style, Pizza Hut sits in one of Hobart’s outer metropolitan suburbs. Pizza Hut Newtown.

I stood in awe looking at the old iconic structure of the building, because all the local ones that I ate at growing up, have all been knocked down.

It was quite surreal seeing a Pizza Hut in its classic building design, open and operating. Parts of the building are in decay, which is apparently is pretty common for most Pizza Huts left in Australia. The only thing that had really changed since the 1990s for this Pizza Hut, apart from the general upkeep of the out side, is the logo, which bears the modern Pizza Hut logo.

My 10-year-old son and I were on a mission to eat at Pizza Hut. Pop culture had taught my son that Pizza Hut was an iconic USA fast food chain that was once as big as McDonald’s, Hungry Jacks/Burger King, and Domino’s.

When we walk in for lunch, I see the iconic buffet with only a couple of Pizzas on it. It’s quiet, with only a few people there. Pizza Hut is no longer the iconic bustling franchise it once was.

My first impression is how small it is. As someone who probably hasn’t been to Pizza Hut since they were 12 in the late ’90s, the dine-in area felt incredibly small.

When I look at the building footprints of the previous Pizza Huts in South Adelaide that I went to as a child, they are probably the same size. It was quite surprising and confronting, Pizza Hut was massive in my memories from my childhood; it’s funny the size perspective thing as you grow up.

This Pizza Hut is an original building, complete with original wooden booths that Pizza Hut had in the 90s, but has seen a small expansion to the side. The decor isn’t modern, but I wanted that authentic 90s experience, so I sat in an old wooden booth rather than some of the modern tables that were in the restaurant. For some people, it probably hasn’t aged well, but I was in my happy nostalgic place.

The staff was amazing, they offered to make us any Pizza on request and were quite friendly. There was a cheese pizza and pepperoni pizza that looked quite fresh sitting in the buffet, and they quickly made us a fresh BBQ Chicken pizza that I requested and put it on the buffet to eat. The prices as of this post were $16.95 for all-you-can-eat, which I thought was quite reasonable, it matches with inflation of about $7.95 late 90s prices, and the same price as a Pizza from a pub. So Pizza Hut in Tassie is still a cheap huge feed for the family.

I made sure I grabbed some pasta too, there were 2 sauces available, Bolognaise and Carbonara just like in the old days. I made sure to top that pasta up with some cheese from the salad bar. My wifes memories from eating at Pizza Hut also included eating Thousand Island dressing with Pizza from the Salad Bar, so I made sure I put some dressing on my plate, to my surprise the taste combination was amazing.

The Bolognaise sauce was definitely out of the can, I preferred the carbonara sauce.

Unlimited Coke was also available to us, which I found odd. Pizza Hut was always a Pepsi company to me. In fact, during the 1990s, PepsiCo actually owned Pizza Hut (and KFC), which is why both restaurants would only offer Pepsi brands. It was paper Coke cups, however. Gone are the iconic plastic red cups of the 1990s.

After I had demolished a plate of Pizza and pasta, I checked out the other salad bar options, there was some lettuce, various dressings, corn chips, corn, coleslaw and potato salad to pick from, I stick to the classics, coleslaw and potato salad. Both tasted fine and seemed freshly made.

My 10-year-old son makes his own weird combination salad, like we all did back in the day. He opts for corn chips covered in corn. He declared his combination delicious and made me try some.

Next we move onto the dessert bar. The iconic soft serve machine stands there, just like it did in the 90s, however its part of the salad bar now, and there is no neon signs anymore like the 1990s.

On selection, however are all the classics, soft serve, jelly, and chocolate mouse. My son goes for every option, and then once he starts eating it, makes a slurry of it all, mixing it all up, something I think every kid did back in the 90s, creating a huge mess of a dessert consisting of mouse, soft-serve, jelly, topping, sprinkles and choc chips.

One sad thing to note is that the iconic 90s swirl dessert bowls are now gone and have been replaced with your basic normal bowl. They would have just topped off my nostalgia for this Pizza Hut visit.

Sadly, there was only one topping option: Chocolate sauce, and these days, only chocolate chips and sprinkles are available. I’m guessing crushed nuts are gone due to allergy reasons. There was also no fruit anymore, but who actually got fruit at Pizza Hut?

My 10-year-old also brings his refillable Coke cup over, creating a Spider (or float), a combination of soft serve and soft drink.

It doesn’t take him long to go back and add jelly and sprinkles to his drink, the 10-year-old 90s inner me is proud of his disgusting combinations.

Overall, it was an enjoyable experience. The food was fresh and tasty. The Pizzas were your standard Pizzas you would get from Domino’s or any takeaway Pizza Hut—nothing gourmet or anything, just fresh and tasty budget pizzas. The dining area was clean, and there was modern white plastic tables as well as old school booths to sit at and eat.

The staff were friendly and helpful, I loved the fact they asked us if we wanted any Pizzas made for us on demand.