Pizza Hut is considering two marketing actions - using fresh ingredients for their pizza or adding healthier choices to the menu. Exploratory research was conducted including library searches, an expert interview with a Domino's manager, and two focus groups. Key insights found current customers view Pizza Hut as cheap and greasy. Focus group participants said they would prefer fresher ingredients but not if it changed the taste. Healthier side items were rejected as not fitting the brand. The recommendations are to conduct further research including different demographics before deciding, and that using fresh ingredients may improve brand loyalty if taste remains similar.

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Pizza Hut Going Healthy
By
Delivering Knights
Group Members:
Farzad Omar Kohzad
Candace Rodriguez
Amanda Rodwell
Sebastian Zabala
Due Date: March 19 (Wednesday) 2014
This project report has been submitted as a part of the course requirements for completing
MAR 3613: Marketing Analysis and Research, taught by Professor Desiraju during
Spring 2014

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Executive Summary
Brief Background
When it comes to tossing around dough, no one does it more often than Pizza Hut. The unit
of YUM! Brand operates the world's #1 pizza chain with more than 11,000 outlets in about 90
countries worldwide. The chain serves a variety of pizza styles, including its flagship Pan Pizza, as
well as Thin n' Crispy, Stuffed Crust, Hand Tossed, and Sicilian. Other menu items include pasta,
calzones, and sandwiches. Pizza Hut offers dine-in service at specific locations as well as carry-out
and delivery service for each location. Pizza Hut’s top competitors are Domino’s, Little Caesar’s
and Papa John’s. The biggest customer segment is adults, both men and women between 18 and 55
years old and families with 5 or more people. Since Pizza Hut is so large, they have many
consumer segments so marketing campaigns are done during huge events and have celebrity
sponsors. The company tends to focus on brand loyal customers and switchers who order for more
than special occasions and holidays.
Considering all this generalinformation we can see market trends today. One industry
trend in quick-service restaurants is product development since many fast-food chains rely on new
menu items and product launches to attract new customers and differentiate their brand. Companies
may need to invest heavily in product development efforts, consumer surveys and testing, and
additional marketing to ensure the successfullaunch of new menu items. Another trend is a focus
on public health where we see political movements to being healthier and restaurants offering
higher quality food that’s receiving success among consumers. Heavily promoting their use of
organic ingredients and healthy cooking techniques is being seen in order to set themselves apart
from other fast-food concepts and to be more health proactive.
The Problem
(a) Pizza Hut is contemplating the following (potential) marketing actions:
Marketing Action #1: Use Fresh Ingredients for their pizza
Marketing Action #2: Add healthier choices to the menu
(b) The decision maker is not sure of the best action because of these “demand‐related” reasons:
There are some demand related strengths for the first marketing action. It does offer a chance
to enhance the quality and freshness of the pizza. This one is a more feasible option because it
doesn’t mean the pizza dough, toppings, and cheese are going to be different, instead they would
not be prepackaged and delivered frozen. It would still be the same ingredients and same crust
except it would be made from fresh ingredients. Another strength is that it would cater to more
health conscious consumers that would potentially create a new segment that are trying to eat
healthy foods that also taste good.
The main weakness associated with the first marketing action is that consumers may not be
happy with a change in the ingredients event if it is meant to help the consumer by making them
fresh, thus, more healthier so it might alienate consumers who already like the current product.
Consumer behavior regarding fresh ingredients might have a negative impact because consumers
have a certain expectation regarding their pizza products. When customers come to pizza places
they know they are not making a healthy choice so they might not expect fresh ingredients on their
pizza, they expect it to taste a certain way to satisfy their taste expectations.

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The second marketing action has its strengths as well. This option doesn’t alter the taste or
appearance of any of its products but it adds to the menu instead while catering to health conscious
consumers. So consumers that currently enjoy their taste won’t get upset that their pizza has been
changed. There is more variation now with this marketing action. Consumers also have an
opportunity for a healthy diet where there are options for all types of customers. There is also more
variety to choose from within the menu.
With Marketing Action #2 there are some weaknesses as well. Consumers don’t go to pizza
places such as Pizza Hut to eat healthier so it might be inconsistent with the brand identity,
confusing the consumer. Even if healthier choices are added to the menu, the perception of the
restaurant might cause consumers to not trust them. This option might also alienate consumers
who already enjoy the menu options. Another weakness is that some independently owned
competitors already have this option and it could seem as though Pizza Hut is copying or lagging
behind creating a negative perception amongst the company.
Exploratory Research
(a) Brief description of all the exploratory research activities conducted:
The first research we conducted was library and Internet searches to look for information on
Pizza Hut and popular food trends in the past few years. The companies’ website was searched
along with any articles related to menu items, ingredients, perceptions and quality of the brand.
Pizza statistics were researched and found from the library to find the market share and sales from
Pizza Hut. Next, popular current trends were researched to find ideas for the marketing actions.
Online magazines, articles and even political legislatures were researched to look for health trends.
After those were conducted and the potential marketing actions were set,an expert interview
was conducted with a competitor of Pizza Hut, Domino’s. In the expert interview with the
Domino’s manager questions were asked in a funnel approach to see what aspects people enjoyed
the most and least about their pizza, the process of making the menu items and finally how
customers would react by changing to fresh ingredients or adding healthy options. Two focus
groups were then completed in the same funnel approach to see different perspectives on the
potential marketing actions. The second focus group’s discussion guide was altered based on the
answers from the first focus group conducted.
(b) Summary of the main insights from the above activities:
The key insights found from the Internet searches began with Pizza Hut’s general ingredients,
products and competitors found in the Brief Background of the paper. According to the American
Customer Satisfaction Index limited-service restaurants are not about quality but rather price and
convenience. Currently Pizza Hut is last in customer satisfaction compared to its main
competitors, Papa John’s,Little Caesar’s and Domino’s. Pizza Hut also has a 15.33% market share
from pizza restaurants, which makes it the top grossing pizza chain with over 5.7 billion dollars in
sales from 2013 according to the national research from the PMQ magazine.
One current market trend with quick-serve restaurants has been product development as seen
with Domino’s reinvention of their pizza and McDonald’s addition of salads, wraps, smoothies and
coffee options to its menu. These developments follow another popular trend of eating and living
healthier. Looking healthy and fit has always been a necessity for celebrities and movie stars but
nowadays even the politicians are focusing on a growing concern for public health. From the health
concerns of the Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie’s weight related to political performance
and sustainability to the President’s new health care reform that forces all American’s to have
health care to ultimately maintain and improve a person’s health, public health is now a huge focus
and concern.

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The expert interview conducted from one of Pizza Hut’s competitor, Domino’s, gave an insight
from the people who have direct contact with the customers. The Domino’s manager gave useful
insights over the past 7 years he has worked there. The ingredients are frozen and premade before
arriving at the store and they see many of the same customers at least twice a week. The biggest
compliment has been customer service and the biggest complaint has been deliver time being too
long. Since Domino’s big reinvention of their pizza, their was initially hesitant consumers but with
direct marketing and speaking to them his store had a 7% increase in sales. They continue to hear
good things from their signature garlic crust now. He did state that people would probably enjoy
fresh ingredients with the pizza as long as price doesn’t increase and how adding healthier side
items wouldn’t sell due to the types of customers that eat at quick serve pizza places.
After conducting the first focus group, common words that were related to Pizza Hut included
cheap and greasy. Only a few were concerned about eating healthy or compensating for eating an
unhealthy pizza when they go to Pizza Hut or a competitor. Another common theme towards the
health trend and dieting was that it depended on the time of year such as New Year’s Resolutions
and Super Bowl parties as well as the personal motivation and mindset. They considered Pizza Hut
as the worst tasting after conducting the Blind Taste Test and want better, fresher ingredients.
Healthy side items were discussed and quickly rejected for the concern of it becoming a different
type of restaurant and having it not sell very well to the current types of customers. The second
focus group had similar insights with the addition of price being a concern and healthy trends
focusing more on a younger generation. The highest price collectively that would be paid for a
healthy, fresher pizza would be 12 dollars. Another major topic was when and how often pizza is
eaten where an increase of pizza consumption was seen during busy or stressfultimes such as
college, parties, and finals testing week.
Implications
(a) Limitations:
Throughout the research and analysis process, limitations will always arise. For our focus
group we did have a fairly good sample size, however it still may not be fully representative of the
overall opinions of all take out and delivery pizza consumers. Due to our group conducting the
study on the University of Central Florida’s main campus, all of our participants were students
currently enrolled at UCF. Adding younger and older participants who were not in college may
have helped in getting a better overall idea of the consumers view towards these pizzas. Our target
market was college students, so for the purpose of our study we gathered very credible evidence.
For a large pizza chain to change or add items to their menu, there would have to be more evidence
supporting this claim than that only of college students. People from different income levels, as
well as ages and lifestyles would need to be included in future studies. For the purpose of our study
we chose Pizza Hut, Dominoes, and Papa Johns, essentially the big three pizza chains. This gave us
a good idea of how these pizzas are similar and different, although it may hinder our results when
asking if healthier items and ingredients for pizza in general would increase demand.
The group discussion went well, but at certain times some participants did get a bit carried
away with side conversations not specifically pertaining to the questions being asked. Peer pressure
also showed to be present during the focus group, especially during conversations about negative
views towards certain pizzas and lifestyle questions. Another limitation that we did not have much
control over was the experience of our moderators. Conversations were guided with everyone
through the study, but they too were students moderating for the first time. Perhaps a more
experience moderator may have worded some questions differently, spoken with a different tone or
may have been better at getting the participants back on track. The use of two different moderators
may have also caused some difference in the way each separate focus group was conducted.
Having the two focus groups be identically moderated may have also helped build more credible
findings.

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(b) Recommendations to the decision maker:
Based on our findings from conducting the focus groups, we believe that further research
would be required to fully know the best decision to make. According to our research and analysis,
marketing action number one, using fresh ingredients in menu items would be the best course of
action to follow, as long as future research also supports this claim. It would be advised that future
focus groups be conducted including participants from different income levels, as well as ages and
lifestyles. A common theme covered during the focus groups was that between the relationship of
pizza and health. Many participants claimed to not care about the healthiness of pizza if that is
what they have decided on eating. If this same question were to be asked to an older adult the
answer may be completely different. All participants did seem to think that healthier and fresher
ingredients would give the franchise an overall better image and quality.
Taste was the main concerning factor brought up during the focus groups when discussing
changing or adding ingredients. The participants in our study found that it would be necessary to do
a few taste tests before committing to any healthier ingredients. Although some participants found
it appealing to have healthier options at these commercial pizza chains, such as Pizza Hut, they
were only for it if the change did not jeopardize the existing tastes of the pizzas. We recommend
that future focus groups, taste tests,and studies be conducted to further determine whether healthier
options should be added. If taste were to remain somewhat similar or improve, the healthier menu
items would improve brand loyalty and reassure consumers of quality.

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Appendix A
Research activities were focused on with the following internet searches and expert interview.
Summary of Sources
Source 1: Pizza Hut Website
Created in 1958 by two entrepreneurs in Kansas,Pizza Hut operates the world's #1 pizza
chain with more than 11,000 outlets in about 90 countries worldwide. The chain serves a variety of
pizza styles, including its flagship Pan Pizza, as well as Thin n' Crispy, Stuffed Crust, Hand
Tossed, and Sicilian. Other menu items include pasta,calzones, and sandwiches. Pizza Hut offers
dine-in service at specific locations as well as carryout and delivery service for each location.
Source 2: American Customer Satisfaction Index
Limited-service restaurants are not about quality but rather price and convenience.
Currently Pizza Hut is last in customer satisfaction compared to its main competitors, Papa John’s,
Little Caesar’s and Domino’s.
Source 3: PMQ Pizza Magazine
Pizza Hut also has a 15.33% market share from pizza restaurants,which makes it the top
grossing pizza chain with over 5.7 billion dollars in sales from 2013. Technomic marketing
industry, collected by PMQ magazine, also states that 34% of diners are willing to pay more for
gourmet ingredients, compared to 26% in 2010. So more people want better,fresher ingredients
and hold a 1/3 of the market today. There’s also a better pizza movement under way where
consumers are now demanding better quality pizzas where the demand is mostly coming from the
baby boomers. Pizza restaurants are compensating this demand with the trend of product
development.
Source 4: Blue Ribbon Public Health Employers’ Advisory Board: Summary of Interviews
An attitude towards the health of individuals is part of the health of all is the future
perspective of healthcare. There’s a social responsibility to help the disadvantaged and high-risk
populations but there also needs to be a focus on continual care and yearly check-ups to maintain or
improve upon personal health needs. There’s a commitment to prevention and focus on population
health embedded in the Affordable Care Act,which is now enacted.
Source 5: mycollegeguide.org
Like restaurants,grocery stores and food chains, college campuses have responded to the
country's current food trends and more conscious eating habits. They are moving away from the
cafeteria line food courts and moving to individual restaurants with more options. The grab-and-go
market (convenient market) on college campuses continues to grow, providing students with
wrapped sandwiches, meal bars, smoothies, snacks and other easy-to-transport meals. Colleges are
catering more to busy students who want variety, health, and convenience all in one place.

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Source 6: Oxford University Press. Article: Towards a politics of health. 2005
There’s a long, overdue task of intensely implementing health into politics, health care
specialists and policy makers. There is confidence among scholars that the practice of health
promotion and public health will gain immeasurably from the explicit recognition of this key
determinant of health and its incorporation into evidence-based strategies, policies and
interventions. Since this was written almost a decade ago, we can see how focused initiatives on
health today has increased awareness for obesity related diseases.
Source 7: Discussion with Expert. 9 Feb. 2014. Domino’s Manager.
The Domino’s manager gave useful insights over the past 7 years he has worked there. The
ingredients are frozen and premade and they see many of the same customers at least twice a week.
The biggest compliment has been customer service and the biggest complaint has been deliver time
being too long. Since Domino’s big reinvention of their pizza, their was initially hesitant
consumers but with direct marketing and speaking to them his store had a 7% increase in sales.
They continue to hear good things from their signature garlic crust now. He said people would
probably enjoy fresh ingredients with the pizza as long as price doesn’t increase and how adding
healthier side items wouldn’t sell due to the types of customers that eat at quick serve pizza places.

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Printouts and Notes of Sources
Source 1: Screenshot of Website: http://www.pizza-hut.am/page/about_us

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Source 2: Screenshot of Website: http://www.theacsi.org/news-and-resources/customer-
satisfaction-reports/customer-satisfaction-reports-2013/acsi-transportation-accommodation-and-
restaurant-report-2013/acsi-transportation-accommodation-and-restaurant-report-2013-download

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Source 3: Screenshots of online magazine http://www.pmq.com/December-2013/Pizza-Power-The-
2014-Pizza-Power-Report/index.php?cparticle=1&siarticle=0#artanc

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Source 4: Screenshot of PDF Interview file:
http://www.aspph.org/userfiles/BlueRibbonPublicHealthEmployersAdvisoryBoard_Report.pdf

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Source 5: Screenshot of website: http://mycollegeguide.org/articles/8/132/beyond-the-burger-
campus-dining-trends

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Source 6: Screenshot of Journal. http://heapro.oxfordjournals.org/content/20/2/187.full.pdf

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Source 7: Expert Discussion (Questions and Answers with Expert)
1. How long have you worked for Domino’s pizza?
- Seven years
2. Other than pizza, what is your best seller?
- Pasta
3. What comments have you heard from customers that like/dislike your restaurant?
- Customer Service (like) – Delivery Time (dislike)
4. How would you describe the quality of your food?
- Fresh
5. What is your title?
- Manager
6. What is your most popular type of pizza?
- Pepperoni
7. What ingredients are fresh?
- Everything
8. How would you describe the quality of your food?
- Fresh and great tasting for customers
9. How do you think you’re different from competitors?
- Dominos is very customer friendly and always looking to improve their quality
10. Do you enjoy working here?
- I love working here, that’s why I’ve stayed here for so long
11. Would customers be opposed to a healthier menu?
- Yes,most likely due to customer behaviors and attitudes toward pizza ingredients and
taste
12. What’s the process in making wings/breadsticks/pizza?
- They are delivered frozen to the store and then placed in freezers where they are taken
from and prepared and baked.
13. What ingredients do you use that are from a can and/or frozen?
- Veggies and meats are all frozen and pre packaged, cheese is refrigerated and packaged
and the sauces are canned.
14. Do you add any preservatives or conditioners to your foods?
- No, some come already in the food, preprepared
15. What has been your biggest complaint from customers with individual ingredients?
- Too much garlic in crust
16. Have you seen a trend in people making healthier choices?
- Not really, It’s hard to tell at this location because were located on a college campus
where students aren’t really health conscious.
17. Generally speaking, what type of people (race,families, age, poor, etc.) buy from this
restaurant?
- Mostly students not with a lot of money from ages 18-24 buy from our location.
18. How do you think you’re different from your competitors?
- We have a different crust and way we make our pizza from our competitors and our
customer service is excellent.
19. If you add healthier choices to your menus, how do you think people would react?
- I think more people would be a little upset because they are accustomed to a certain type
of product here and they expect nothing less than excellent when they order from here.
20. Have people asked if you sell health conscious food? (salads, fruit, teas)
- Occasionally people will ask me, usually during lunch times.
21. What is something that customers enjoy about the food here?

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- The taste is really valued here,especially since the whole Domino’s pizza reinvention
here. We first had hesitant customer but saw a 7% increase in sales once we explained to
everyone directly how good the pizza was after the reinvention.
22. What is the best attribute of your items?
- Price, we have great prices for what we offer here at Domino’s

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Appendix B
Two focus groups where held in a private meeting room in Business Administration
Building II, room 201, on the University of CentralFlorida’s main campus in Orlando, Florida. A
video camera was used during the two focus groups to capture the responses and reactions of the
participants. Our first focus group had 8 participants, 4 male and 4 female, and our second focus
group had 11 participants, 5 male and 6 female. The first focus group was 40 minutes and the
second one was 55 minutes. Since our study was focused around the introduction of healthy
options at commercial pizza chains, we provided each participant with a small slice of pizza from
each Pizza Hut, Dominoes, and Papa Johns. Some of our participants were also able to receive
extra credit for their marketing class with Dr. Massiah.

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Appendix C
Discussion Guide for first focus group:
I. Intro
1. recording/observers
2. casual, relaxed, informal
3. no right or wrong answers
4. be honest, tell the truth
5. Talk one at a time
6. Don’t dominate the conversation
7. Talk in ANY order
8. Listen to others
9. Ice Breaker
II. Blind Taste Test (handed out individually)
1. Hand out Pizza Hut- Reactions
2. Hand out Dominos- Reactions
3. Hand out Papa Johns- Reactions
4. What was your favorite/least favorite? Why?
III. General Attitudes Toward Pizza
1. Do you eat more/less pizza now than 2 years ago?
2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of pizza compared to other foods?
3. Words associated with great tasting pizza?
4. What types of food or drink do you eat/drink with pizza?
IV. Usage/Purchase of Pizza
1. When and where do you eat pizza most often? (Night, day, alone, with friends)
2. What types of toppings, if any, do you put on your pizza?
3. What brands that deliver do you prefer?
V. Attitude of Pizza Hut
1. Describe pizza hut’s food
2. What are your experiences with them?
3. Satisfaction? Like/Dislike about this brand? Perceptions?
4. Important attributes associated with them?
VI. The Perfect Pizza
1. Product characteristics
1. Taste
2. Texture
3. Color
4. Crust, cheese,sauce, topping options
5. Does nutrition play any part? Benefits?
6. Marketing/Packaging Preferences?
VII. Dieting
1. Have you cut back on unhealthy foods to diet/watch your weight within the past 2 years? If so,
what types?

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2. What do you expect healthy food to taste like?
3. Do you enjoy eating healthy types of food? Why or why not?
4. What would make you eat healthy foods?
VIII. Discussing Healthy Options
1. What could Pizza Hut do to cater to health conscious people?
2. What healthy options could they add?
3. Would this make you like/dislike Pizza Hut more or less?
4. Describe your perceptions of pizza hut if they added healthy items to the menu.
Discussion Guide for second focus group:
I. Intro
1. recording/observers
2. casual, relaxed, informal
3. no right or wrong answers
4. be honest, tell the truth
5. Talk one at a time
6. Don’t dominate the conversation
7. Talk in ANY order
8. Listen to others
9. Ice Breaker (7-8 minutes) take longer
II. Blind Taste Test (lay out at same time)
1. Pizza Hut- Reactions
2. Dominos- Reactions
3. Papa Johns- Reactions
4. What was your favorite/least favorite? Why?
5. Guess which pizza is from where, Tell them
III. General Attitudes Toward Pizza
1. Do you eat more/less pizza now than when you started college?
2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of pizza compared to other foods?
3. Words associated with great tasting pizza?
4. What types of food or drink do you eat/drink with pizza?
IV. Usage/Purchase of Pizza
1. When and where do you eat pizza most often? (Night, day, alone, with friends)
2. What types of toppings, if any, do you put on your pizza?
3. What brands that deliver do you prefer?
V. Attitude of Pizza Hut
1. Describe pizza hut’s food
2. What are your experiences with them?
3. Satisfaction? Like/Dislike about this brand? Perceptions?
4. Important attributes associated with them?
VI. The Perfect Pizza
1. Product characteristics
a. Taste

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b. Texture
c. Color
d. Crust, cheese,sauce,topping options
2. Does nutrition play any part? Benefits?
3. Marketing/Packaging Preferences?
VII. Dieting
1. Have you cut back on unhealthy foods to diet/watch your weight since you started college?
If so, what types?
2. What do you expect healthy food to taste like?
3. Do you enjoy eating healthy types of food? Why or why not?
4. What would make you eat healthy foods?
VIII. Discussing Healthy Options
5. What could Pizza Hut do to cater to health conscious people?
6. What healthy options could they add?
7. Would this make you like/dislike Pizza Hut more or less?
8. Describe your perceptions of pizza hut if they added healthy items to the menu.
IX. Price Points
1. What do you think the normal price range is for a large pizza?
2. Should added healthy items cost more, less, same?
3. How much would you pay for a healthy pizza?
4. Would you actually buy Pizza Hut if they change it? Should they just add it?
Changes between Discussion Guides
For the second focus group, the camera was set up behind me instead so we could see
people’s facial reactions on camera. The second discussion guide changed first with the
icebreaker,which was spent with a little more time to loosen up the group. We also had the group
guess where each pizza came from after the Blind Taste Test. Instead of focusing on trends 2 years
ago we instead changed it to trends before and after college to see if starting college had changed
their eating habits. The biggest change was adding a Price Point section to see how much price
mattered when ordering a quality pizza.

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Appendix D
First Focus Group Interview:
The Blind Taste Test was first conducted after the rules and icebreaker. Papa Johns was
individually taken out first, then Pizza Hut, and then Domino’s. They thought Papa Johns tasted
like good, normal pizza but the floury looking crust didn’t look appetizing. They thought the Pizza
Hut pizza tasted really sweet and cheap. They thought the crust was thicker but looked really
yellow and fake. The third pizza, Domino’s was their favorite saying they loved the fluffiness and
garlic taste of the crust and tasted very rich. They said that the cheese and sauce of Papa John’s
was their favorite and Domino’s garlic crust was the best.
All of them said they eat pizza more often then 2 years ago because it’s easy,fast,and fills
you up quickly. Most drinks and foods had with pizza were alcohol, carbonated drinks, wings, and
chips. Which led to the group saying they usually eat pizza in groups or at parties, basically any
social settings. Very rarely did they order it by themselves. Favorite toppings and types
immensely varied by individual. Examples include Buffalo Chicken Pizza, Cheese,Meat Lovers,
Hawaiian, and Veggie Lovers. Their perfect pizza would be all natural and fresh flavors with
fluffy garlic crust.
The opinion of Pizza Hut was greasy,sugary and sweet tasting, and cheap. Nutrition
doesn’t play any part when ordering from Pizza Hut. If they were looking for something nutritious
they wouldn’t go to Pizza Hut. If they changed to fresh ingredients and it tasted the same they
would definitely go and buy from them. Some of the participants have dieted in the past year since
putting on weight from starting college and/or getting a part time job. They think that dieting is a
time trend such as on New Year’s for Resolutions (increase in dieting) or during game events like
the Super Bowl (decrease in dieting) and depends on what friends and family are doing.
The participants thought that making a quality fresh pizza would be a good idea so they
wouldn’t feelterrible after eating such an easy and convenient food. Most participants eat pizza
four to five times a month. They noted that price does matter though saying they would spend an
extra four or five dollars to get a good tasting pizza they actually enjoyed. Things that would make
them eat a healthy pizza would be the availability and the marketing of the pizza as well as the
mindset and mentality of the individual.
The participants thought of healthy add-ons or side items would be pointless. If you add
wraps or smoothies if would cater to health conscious consumers but it would also become a
different restaurant and lose it’s pizza perception. Perceptions would change only with time and
consistency after the change. They said it would finally be a good idea to add fresh ingredients as
it would appeal to people that are trying to take small steps to be healthier and social Pizza Hut’s
social responsibility.

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Second Focus Group Interview:
The Rules and Icebreaker were done in the beginning and was then proceeded with by the
Blind Taste Test. Papa John’s was handed out first. Participants noted the crust was too flat and
white but the pizza cheese and sauce was the perfect amount and tasted fresh. Domino’s was
handed out second. They said it looked cheesy and the crust was better than the first. It tasted
saucier, had more seasonings and tasted the garlic in the crust. They thought this one cost more
than the first. Pizza Hut was the third pizza. They said this one looked the best because it had a lot
of cheese and golden crust and even said it looked homemade. When the tasted it, they said it was
the worst one, tasted airy and plain. It was compared to cheap cafeteria food.
The participants said they all eat more pizza now during college then before because of the
cheapness and convenience. It was also noted how in school cafeteria’s pizza is considered a
vegetable and healthy because it contains bread, tomatoes and cheese. Most said they have water
or carbonated soda with their pizza along with breadsticks or celery. They mostly eat pizza late at
night in social gatherings with friends or during a stressfultime such as finals week or a change in
your living arrangements. Favorite toppings varied by individual and most preferred to get
delivery from whatever was closest.
They said that Pizza Hut was considered greasy,messy, cheesy and cheap as many of them
noted Pizza Hut’s napkin from the blind taste test was the greasiest. The considered Pizza Hut to
be one of the major brands and was located everywhere. They also said they don’t really pay
attention to any of their side items such as wings, breadsticks or desserts and only order the Big
Box (a box full of a variety of menu items from Pizza Hut) if it’s a huge college party. Few would
order it for a family event because they don’t want to disappoint their older family members. They
said it wouldn’t change their perception of the restaurant if they added different things to the menu.
The perfect pizza for them included a golden crust that would be thick and fluffy and had
an even layered pattern of mozzarella and parmesan cheese and sauce. They want fresh,non-
chunky ingredients. When it came to eating pizza, nutrition had no part. Some of them would trick
themselves and put vegetables on it and pretend to be healthy. The marketing colors they
associated with pizza places was red and white. Some of them are dieting and make their own food
now at home because it’s cheaper than going out. Other’s say they don’t have time and it takes too
much of an effort and determination to cook their own food and eat healthy.
They thought that a healthy pizza would taste bland but the participants noted they would
feel better than eating a pizza without fresh ingredients. They thought that secretly adding
vegetables in the dough, sauce or other ingredients would be a sneaky and sensitive way to cater to
health conscious consumers. They thought that adding healthy items to the menu would be a waste
and unoriginal after a few gave an example of McDonalds and other fast food restaurants adding
smoothies, wraps and salads to their menu but having it only make up a small portion of their sales.
They said for the perception of Pizza Hut to change would just take subtle healthier changes to
their ingredients and time for the customers to adapt. Most of the participants said the most they
would spend on a healthier pizza with fresh ingredients would be around 11 or 12 dollars and
healthier side items would be around 5 or 6 dollars. They noted that it should still be around the
same price though because Pizza Hut’s main consumers care about price and convenience.