The One Thing This Nostalgic Pizza Hut Gets Right

Nostalgia’s back. Actually, come on. It never left, did it? Nostalgia has been used to stir senses and sell products for decades, if not full-on generations, and this year it remains as appealing as ever for manufacturers and customers alike – particularly in the food world, with products from Hershey’s and Ore-Ida reaching back to our childhoods. 

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It’s the same in the fast food game – but one Pizza Hut franchisee is taking things to the next level. The Daland Corporation has converted dozens of its restaurants to resemble classic Pizza Huts, and they’re a hit with customers for a specific, somewhat emotional reason. Let’s dig in.

Pizza Hut Classics

Kansas-based Daland Corporation, a Pizza Hut franchisee that owns almost 100 locations, has been on a mission to convert its locations to the old-style Pizza Huts of yore. We’re talking the checkered tablecloths, hanging lamps, wooden booths, and salad bars of the 1980s and 1990s, which plenty of people hold in their minds as the quintessential image of what a Pizza Hut should be. The refit push is led by Tim Sparks, Daland Corporation’s president, who has a multi-decade history with the restaurant. 

The whole point of the effort is to capture that nostalgic feel of lost Pizza Hut restaurants – but it’s also to create a sense of connection. That, according to Sparks in an interview seen via Reddit, is the driving feeling behind it all. “If we can get them in here as a family, they do tend to put their phones down, and actually have conversations and speak with each other.”

And Is That What Customers Love, Too?

Well, we’d imagine so – but what these Pizza Huts nail is the flavor of their food, according to customers. That seems to be the secret to the Daland Corporation’s success, and what its diners are most passionate about. “When you finally find something that tastes how you genuinely remember it tasting…you can’t let it go,” said an interviewee. 

Other people commenting in the Reddit thread that posted the interview seem to very much approve of this push towards nostalgia (and, of course, towards better-tasting food). Now that Pizza Hut has been sold, will there be a move to revive this kind of vibe? Or will the Daland Corporation’s restaurants be the last holdouts? We’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime, this franchise is doing things right, for the customers at least.