When I was a teenager, I hated pizza. That was back in the 1970s when the pizza pie pretty much came in only two versions: pepperoni and supreme that was heavy on the green peppers. I’m not fond of either, so I was the pizza veto in our family when eating out. Even today, if an operator is only going to menu two pizzas, they are going to be pepperoni and supreme. OK, maybe cheese to please the youngsters.
I don’t know what year or decade it was when pizza dough became a blank canvas for absolutely anything. Now you can gauge current food trends by looking at Pizza Hut’s LTOS. Every R&D chef is looking for ways to incorporate plant-based proteins, gluten-free options, hot honey, global flavors, comfort food, birria, Nashville hot and whatever other trends you’re reading about in your trade publications.
In January, Pizza Hut pepped up pepperoni pizza by incorporating hot honey and renaming it Hot Honey Pizza. It’s topped with marinara sauce, cheese, classic pepperoni and crispy cupped pepperoni, and a sweet sauce made with red habanero peppers and honey. Oh, and how about Pizza Hut’s spicy Pickle Pizza LTO last year? Pickles have had their moment. The chain combined pickles with Nashville hot chicken. It was sauced with buttermilk ranch, and topped with cheese, crispy breaded chicken breast seasoned with a kick of Nashville Hot Seasoning, sliced white onions, and then loaded with spicy dill pickles and finished off with a drizzle of buttermilk ranch.
In the cold Q4 of 2023, Hungry Howie’s went with a comfort food theme for an LTO of Mac ‘N Cheese Pizza that included melted mozzarella and panko breadcrumbs for a crunch.
So, we see that pizza crust is a carrier for all the latest trends in the same way every carrier is taking on food-scene shifts. Think sandwiches, wraps, tacos, omelets and now bowls. They are all foundations for the likes of birria, Nashville hot and the rest of the current “it” ingredients.
I would think that the classic baked potato could go all directions as a carrier of dining evolutions, but it really hasn’t for some reason. I have to hand it to Wendy’s for being the lone champion of the baked potato in fast food. It has five topping options, all of which stay reasonably between the standard white lines. Fries and tots, on the other hand, are the sexier potato carriers for trendy toppings. Wings and Rings totally got that with a few notable LTOs last year. Its Loaded Steak & Queso Fries were topped with seasoned thinly sliced steak, queso, cheddar jack cheese, jalapenos, avocado, roasted corn, tomatoes, scallions and chipotle ranch dressing. (Couldn’t you just as easily see that ingredient list atop a pizza or in a wrap or bowl?)
In the dessert category, Wings and Rings ran a S’Mores Funnel Fries LTO that loaded funnel cake fries with gooey melted marshmallows, chocolate and Cinnamon Toast Crunch crumbles.
Coming full circle with the loaded goods, Domino’s Pizza entered the field of loaded potatoes for the first time last year with loaded tots. The three variations simply borrow the ingredients from a few pizzas, so other than the tots, no new ingredients were required. (Philly Cheese Steak Loaded Tots; Cheddar Bacon Loaded Tots; and Melty 3-Cheese Loaded Tots.)
What will become the next blank canvas for trendy ingredient toppings? Watch Papa Murphy’s. It recently added Monkey Bread to the menu. So far it comes in only two flavors: savory garlic and sweet cinnamon. But I see loads of opportunity, how about you?
Jody
