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Article: Once-dominant Pizza Hut cooking up new appeal; Overcoming 'dull': Huge chain hoping changes translate into more dough
- Article from:
- Telegraph - Herald (Dubuque)
- Article date:
- October 1, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2000 Telegraph - Herald (Dubuque). Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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DALLAS (AP) - Larry Dykstra remembers when the extent of Pizza
Hut's decline hit him like a pie in the face.
Dykstra convened a group of teenagers in early 1999 to understand
what made them tick - or at least, what would make them eat more
often at Pizza Hut.
"Frankly," recalled the company's vice president for consumer
insights, "they kinda said, 'You've lost your luster.'"
Many of the red-roofed restaurants were dark and unappealing. The
pizza was inconsistent and uninspired, topped with flecks of diced
meat. Even the advertisements were dull.
Competitors were narrowing the gap on the longtime industry