Pizza Hut has officially jumped on the Detroit-Style pizza trend.
On Tuesday, the Yum! Brands chain launched its own take on Detroit-Style pizza. Available nationwide for a limited time, Pizza Hut Detroit-Style pizza was developed and perfected for over a year. According to a news release, the restaurant came up with more than 500 iterations of the pizza and tested several of those in the Midwest before arriving at the final version.
True to the traditional Detroit style, Pizza Hut’s version of the pizza is rectangular-shaped and features cheese all the way to the edges, creating a crispy, thick and caramelized crust. It is also loaded with toppings and finished off with a vine-ripened tomato sauce on top. Only available on Detroit-Style pizza, Pizza Hut’s signature vine-ripened tomato sauce was created after testing eight different variations.
Pizza Hut Detroit-Style pizza comes in four different recipes, which are as follows:
Detroit Double Pepperoni: Described as a “work of pizza art,” this pizza is topped with 80 slices of pepperoni. It features 32 slices of regular pepperoni and 48 slices of Crispy Cupped Pepperoni, which crisp up in the oven and provide a crunchy texture and zesty flavor.
Double Cheesy: As its name implies, this pizza is layered with two kinds of cheese, including aged parmesan.
Meaty Deluxe: This variant features three kinds of meat toppings: bacon, Italian sausage, and Crispy Cupped Pepperoni.
Supremo: Lastly, the Supremo Detroit-style pizza is topped with Italian sausage, red onions, and green bell peppers.
Pizza Hut Detroit-Style pizza also comes in its own specially designed rectangular box that illustrates the characteristics of the flavorful baked treat. The box features a graphic of the pizza with lines pointing to each layer explaining what makes it Detroit-style. Click here to view a photo of the box.
“This is a pizza experience unlike any other. My kids are into these unboxing videos on YouTube, where people are going through elaborate reveals and unboxing things like shoes or toys. We realized this pizza experience is almost like that,” said Pizza Hut chief marketing officer George Felix of what inspired the specially designed box. “This box is unique to Detroit-style. It’s a nod to Detroit and all the things that make a Detroit-Style pizza special and why it’s so good. We want to educate this awesome trend in pizza and Pizza Hut’s take on it.”
According to market researcher Datassential, Detroit-Style pizza grew by more than 66% on menus from 2015-2019. However, the number of pizzerias and Italian restaurants that offer the pizza variant is still low. So the launch of Pizza Hut’s version of the pizza has put the chain in a favorable position as it brings the option to its over 7,000 locations across the country.
Pizza Hut Detroit-Style pizza starts at $10.99 but varies by location. Each pizza comes with eight slices.