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Pizza Hut
Discontinued: Early 2000s
The late 1970s were a time of culinary fusion, and Pizza Hut wasn’t about to be left behind.
Let’s go back to 1979. Families across America are debating, “Pizza or tacos tonight?” Pizza Hut’s answer: Why choose?
The Fiesta Taco Pizza emerged as Pizza Hut’s bold answer to this dinner dilemma. Ground beef, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, refried beans, and salsa. All the taco fixings you loved, but on a pizza crust that wouldn’t crumble in your hands.
For over two decades, this Mexican-Italian fusion became a family favorite. Even today, dedicated fans claim that you can still find it in select locations, such as Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Discontinued: Late 1980s
The 1980s were all about value and convenience.
Pizza Hut understood that nothing paired better with hot pizza than ice-cold Pepsi. But why settle for a regular cup when you could get a half-gallon Igloo jug for just $1.99 with your medium or large to-go order?
It was pure 80s genius. Practical, affordable, and just a little bit excessive.
Discontinued: Mid-1980s
Sometimes the best marketing comes in the smallest packages.
For just one dollar with any medium or large pizza order, you could walk away with Pizza Hut’s “Bag Bag.” This was a small red duffel bag emblazoned with the iconic Pizza Hut logo.
This wasn’t about carrying pizzas (it was too small for that). This was about brand loyalty. Suddenly, Pizza Hut was part of your summer vacation, your sleepover, your everyday life.
The bag turned customers into walking advertisements for a buck.
Discontinued: 1993
This was Pizza Hut’s moonshot moment.
In 1985, Pizza Hut wasn’t content with just making pizza. They wanted to create an experience. The Priazzo was a deep-dish menu item that was part pizza, part quiche, part engineering marvel.
Marketing consultant Charles Brymer spent a year developing the name. A computer generated hundreds of options starting with “P” and containing double “Z” before landing on “Priazzo.” It cost over $61,000 to develop.
Pizza Hut bet big with $15 million in marketing (equivalent to $36 million today). Commercials shot in Italy. Opera music by Puccini. Lush cinematography that made this pizza look like fine dining.
There was a big problem. Each pizza needed one pound of cheese. And there were four varieties: Roma, Florentine, Napoli, and Milano. It took forty minutes to prepare. In a fast-food world, the Priazzo was asking customers to slow down. Most weren’t ready.
By the early 1990s, the pizza was discontinued. But ask anyone who tried a Priazzo, and they’ll tell you, it was magnificent while it lasted.
Discontinued: 1996
The 1990s were about bigger, bolder, more extreme everything. Pizza Hut delivered.
Bigfoot Pizza was two square feet of pizza. Twenty-one slices. A rectangular masterpiece designed to feed parties and make jaws drop. This was an event.
Pizza Hut went all out to market this monstrosity. They leased a $4 million blimp with the cartoon Bigfoot logo splashed across its side. The plan? Fly it over major cities and watch the buzz grow.
But then came the crash on July 4th, 1993. Manhattan. The Bigfoot blimp crashed onto an apartment building roof, injuring two crew members. But Pizza Hut’s VP called it a success because it “heightened brand awareness.”
Behind the scenes, employees struggled with the reality. Special pans. Custom boxes. Dough so fragile it tore constantly, leading to massive waste and frustrated workers.
Here’s the kicker. Reggie Fils-Aimé—yes, the future Nintendo of America president—was the Pizza Hut marketing director who both launched Bigfoot and ultimately killed it.
The Bigfoot generated $5.7 billion in sales in 1993 alone. But sometimes, even legendary success isn’t enough to overcome operational reality.
Discontinued: Late 1990s
Coming off the success of Stuffed Crust Pizza in 1995, Pizza Hut wanted to go even bigger.
The Triple Deckeroni was a pizza wrapped in another pizza. Two thin crusts. Six types of cheese. Ninety pepperoni slices.
Discontinued: Early 2000s
One day, Pizza Hut thought, ‘What if we eliminated the crust entirely?’
The Edge Pizza featured toppings all the way to the edge. No wasted bites. No plain crust to leave behind. Pure efficiency meets pure indulgence.
The marketing was legendary. Ads directed by Edgar Wright (future director of “Baby Driver” and “Shaun of the Dead”). Commercials featuring a boy giving motivational speeches about going “to the edge and back.”
Even after discontinuation, The Edge wouldn’t stay dead. Pizza Hut brought it back briefly in summer 2021.
Discontinued: Mid-2000s
The new millennium called for new thinking about what pizza could be.
The Insider Pizza had six types of cheese layered between two crusts, covering the entire pizza surface. This wasn’t another stuffed crust pizza—this was stuffed everything.
A cheese lover’s fever dream that proved sometimes you can have too much of a good thing. Or maybe the world just wasn’t ready for that level of dairy commitment.
Discontinued: 2011
Pizza Hut’s answer to the calzone was to make it bigger, better, and impossible to ignore.
P’Zone featured 1.07 pounds of pure indulgence. Toasted parmesan crust. Pizza toppings and melted cheese, baked calzone-style. Served with marinara for dipping.
When Pizza Hut discontinued the P’Zone, fans didn’t just complain—they organized. Change.org petitions. Dedicated Twitter accounts. Facebook groups. One petition creator wrote: “Pizza Hut has managed to bring back the P’Zone a record 2 times in the new millennium, but every time it comes back, it is swiftly shut down.”
Pizza Hut has brought it back multiple times for limited runs. 2019, and other brief periods. Hopefully, they’ll bring it back again soon.
Discontinued: Late 2000s
Sometimes the best ideas are the simplest ones.
Pizza cut into 16 perfect strips. Three dipping sauces: marinara, ranch, and garlic. No awkward angles, no sauce-less bites, no mess. This was the Dippin’ Strips Pizza.
It was pizza reimagined for those who had grown up with chicken strips and french toast sticks and understood that everything was better with dipping sauce.
Genius in its practicality, missed for its convenience.
Discontinued: Early 2010s
What if Stuffed Crust Pizza made a baby?
Twenty-eight pull-apart, cheese-filled bread bites formed the crust of the Cheese Bites Pizza. It was part pizza, part appetizer, part entertainment.
Over the years, Pizza Hut stuffed crusts with hot dogs, Spam, and mozzarella sticks. But none captured imaginations quite like the original Cheesy Bites.
The menu item, which made a brief comeback in 2019, proved the concept still had life.
Discontinued: 2007
Sicilian Lasagna Pizza was Pizza Hut’s attempt to merge two Italian classics. It lasted exactly one year.
Two crusts layered like lasagna noodles. Ricotta, parmesan, marinara sauce, and ground beef. Cut into eight hefty slices that promised to satisfy any craving for Italian comfort food.
“Despite its name, the Sicilian Lasagna Pizza is not merely a big dish of lasagna dumped on a crust,” wrote the Houston Chronicle, damning with faint praise.
Sometimes, ambitious fusion creates confusion rather than satisfaction.
Discontinued: 2016
For eight sweet years, Pizza Hut proved that dinner could end on the highest possible note.
Breadsticks topped with Hershey’s milk chocolate. Served with rich chocolate dipping sauce. Simple concept, executed perfectly.
When Hershey’s Chocolate Dunkers were discontinued in 2016, fans took action. Multiple Change.org petitions. One heartbroken customer wrote: “It was my birthday when I found out they stopped selling them, and I cried. I cried on my birthday, Pizza Hut.”
But a former employee revealed the item used expensive Hershey’s ingredients and tight inventory controls on chocolate sauce that made them costly to produce.
Discontinued: 2009
Pizza Hut’s brief flirtation with the health food movement lasted just over a year.
The Natural Pizza used multigrain crust sweetened with honey. No high fructose corn syrup, artificial preservatives, or nitrites. Vine-ripened tomatoes, Rustica sausage, fire-roasted red peppers.
Available only in Seattle, Denver, and Dallas, “The Natural” represented Pizza Hut’s attempt to redefine fast food quality. But when you’re known for stuffed crust excess, going natural feels like swimming upstream.
Discontinued: Early 2010s
Pizza Hut’s pasta expansion was ambitious, but some dishes were destined for brief glory.
Rotini pasta. Cheddar cheese sauce. Bacon. More cheese. Baked to perfection and served with five breadsticks.
Part of the larger Tuscani line that eventually gave way to Oven-Baked Pastas.
Discontinued: 2010
The name said it all: panoramic + enormous = Panormous.
Forty percent larger than regular pizzas. Cut into 16 rectangular pieces. Designed for feeding crowds and making statements.
But customers quickly realized this was essentially two pan pizzas served side by side rather than one truly giant pizza.
Discontinued: 2012
Interactive dining taken to its logical extreme. This was the Big Dipper Pizza.
It had no sauce on the pizza itself. Instead, multiple dipping sauces turned each slice into a custom flavor experience. It was pizza made into an art project.
The pizza made a limited comeback in 2020.
Discontinued: 2013
Pizza Hut’s direct challenge to Subway was bold but brief.
Various ingredients wrapped in pizza dough made the P’Zolo. The sub came in multiple forms. A trio of ham, pepperoni, and Italian sausage. Buffalo Chicken. Italian Steak with vegetables.
Pizza Hut workers handed out free P’Zolos to Chicago subway riders. A not-so-subtle shot at Subway’s territory.
But going head-to-head with sandwich specialists on their home turf proved challenging.
Discontinued: 2016
This was Pizza Hut’s “because we can” moment.
Hot dog bites stuffed into the crust. Served with mustard for dipping. Available in multiple countries before reaching the US in 2015.
The Hot Dog Stuffed Crust Pizza was released first in Canada, Australia, and the UK in 2012, three years of international buzz before the American launch.
Discontinued: Recent Years
The final entry in our chronicle. Quepapas. Tater tots reimagined.
Cheddar and jalapeño stuffed inside. Served with ranch dipping sauce. Perfect for sharing, mourned by families everywhere.
Some locations still serve them, making Quepapas the Bigfoot of side dishes. Spotted occasionally, but never confirmed to be officially back.
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