In the '90s and early '00s, Pizza Hut was in its prime. From its iconic building shape and homey interior to the hilarious (yet slightly terrifying) Pizza Head commercials, Pizza Hut had its target audience locked in. The pizza chain had almost every kid in America begging their parents to go to Pizza Hut after each sporting event, school function, and even when they finished reading a book.
Not to mention Pizza Hut was ahead of its time in the '90s. It was the first national chain to brave the Internet and introduce online ordering and it invented the beloved stuffed crust pizza. Extra cheese inside your pizza? Game-changing.
Over the years Pizza Hut created multiple first-of-its-kind offerings to draw in its customers. While some were flops (we're looking at you Priazzo Pizza), even more were huge success stories. However, as the years unfolded, Pizza Hut started removing more and more of the unique items from its menu much to customers' dismay.
But, like any good restaurant chain, Pizza Hut listens to its customers and opts to bring back fan-favorite items from time to time. It recently announced the limited return of The Big New Yorker Pizza, which is an extra large New York-style pizza made with sweet marinara sauce, extra cheese, and a Parmesan-oregano seasoning. So, we thought if Pizza Hut was willing to bring back the Big New Yorker, then it could bring back these other items too (permanently, please).
Bigfoot Pizza
Pizza Hut's Bigfoot Pizza hit menus in 1993 to compete with Little Caesars Big Big Cheese Pizza. As you can see from the '93 commercial, the companies were a little shady toward one another.
During the '90s, bigger was always better (remember the supersize?). But the Bigfoot Pizza was ideal for having a party. When you have to feed a crowd, what better pizza to order than one that's two square feet?
However, Pizza Hut spent hundreds of thousands of advertising dollars on the Bigfoot Pizza—they ran campaigns that gave you a free HBO trial or Blockbuster rental if you purchased the pizza. They even rented a blimp that featured the Bigfoot Pizza logo to fly over the streets of Manhattan on the Fourth of July. However, much like the Bigfoot Pizza, the blimp ultimately crashed.
Logistically at the time, the Bigfoot Pizza had to be a nightmare—Pizza Hut had to make new boxes to hold 21 pieces of square pizza. However, nowadays, with the Big Dinner Box, Pizza Hut should have no problem filling that baby up with a three-topping pizza.
Dippin' Strips Pizza
If you love to dip your pizza in a sauce (like ranch, garlic, or marinara), Pizza Hut used to have a pizza just for you. In 2005, Pizza Hut created a pizza that was meant to be dipped: the Dippin' Strips Pizza. It was a rectangular pizza cut into 16 strips that were perfectly designed to be dipped in the included marinara, ranch, and garlic sauce cups.
Yes, you can still dip your triangle pizza in your favorite sauce cup—or pour a little sauce on your plate and go from there—but after a few bites, you have to get creative about dipping your slice into the circular cups. The strips really are genius for dipping—have we learned nothing from chicken strips and French toast sticks?
The Insider Pizza
The Insider Pizza, which launched in 2000, took stuffed crust to a whole new level. Instead of extra cheese only inside the crust, there was extra cheese throughout the entire pizza. The Insider started with crust, then a layer of six types of cheese spread over the entire crust, another layer of crust, then your favorite pizza toppings on top. A pizza inside a pizza, get it?
This pizza is a cheese fanatics' dream—it's meant for those people who order extra cheese as their first pizza topping. But seriously, you can't go wrong with two pizzas stacked on top of one another.
The Edge Pizza
Toppings, toppings, toppings! The tavern-style Edge Pizza joined the menu in 1997 and was all about the toppings.
It had a cracker-thin crust that was durable enough to hold a mountain of toppings, which went all the way to the edge of the pizza. The pizza was cut into squares, but because the toppings went all the way around, it meant that no one would be left with too much crust while a lucky few would enjoy all the meat and veggies.
The Edge exited the full-time menu but has made multiple limited-time appearances (most recently in 2021) because customers love it so much. Come on Pizza Hut, let's stop this on-again-off-again stuff and make it a permanent fixture!
Cheesy Bites Pizza
What is the Cheesy Bites Pizza, you ask? Think of it like the stuffed crust pizza, but in bite-sized form. The Cheesy Bites Pizza debuted in 2006 and is a pizza with 28 pull-apart, poppable cheese-filled bread bites that act as the crust.
Over the years, Pizza Hut has replaced its crust with a few notable foods (hot dogs, Spam, and mozzarella sticks), but none were as iconic as the cheesy bites. The Cheesy Bites Pizza is certainly gone but never forgotten as Pizza Hut brought it back for a limited run in 2019, but we're waiting patiently for it to come back for good.
Triple Deckeroni
Before there was the Insider Pizza, there was the Triple Deckeroni. The Triple Deckeroni became available in 1997 and featured a thin-crust pizza topped with a layer of cheese and pepperoni then topped with another thin-crust pizza and your pizza toppings.
After the stuffed crust success, Pizza Hut really took the idea of stuffing pizzas and ran with it, but we're not complaining. Ok, Pizza Hut hear us out, let's compromise: you don't have to bring back both the Insider and the Triple Deckeroni, we'll settle for one as long as we can customize the middle layer too.
