Over the last several years, Pizza Hut corporate leadership has slowly restored a handful of its restaurants in the style of the company’s analog-era golden age. Collectively, these locations are branded as “Pizza Hut Classic.” The Tunkhannock restaurant is one of them, making it an accessory to an advertising campaign. Nobody seems to know how many Pizza Hut Classics exist, how long this strategy has been employed, or if the company plans on adding more in the future. (Pizza Hut didn’t respond to my request for comment, nor have they spoken to anyone else who has covered the initiative.) But Bender provided some insight. He mentioned that his franchise has always been a sit-down affair, retaining its diner bones throughout innumerable rebrands and pivots. About 10 years ago, his bosses fully converted the restaurant into an official, bona fide Classic. The corporate office shipped over a bevy of 1990s accoutrements, including cups, lamps, and a plaque emblazoned with a quote from Dan Carney, Pizza Hut’s co-founder, that was to be pinned up in the beige foyer.
“This Pizza Hut Classic celebrates our heritage,” the inscription reads. “It reminds us of the Pizza Hut where generations first fell in love with pizza. We’re so happy to have you here; we hope you fall in love all over again.”
The national Pizza Hut apparatus has refused to tabulate an official directory of Pizza Hut Classics. There is not a shred of information about these vintage establishments on the company website. Instead, the locations are uncovered by dedicated Pizza Hut wayfarers and fetishists as a kind of scavenger hunt. The Classics all appear to be located in small towns—Tunkhannock has a population of only 1,727—with the lion’s share situated in the boondocks of Texas, the state where the restaurant is headquartered. Rolando Pujol, a New York–based journalist who takes a special interest in throwback American kitsch, has curated the only definitive list of Pizza Hut Classics on his Substack, The Retrologist. It is, by leagues, the highest-traffic piece of writing he’s ever published on the internet.
What exactly about these locations drives interest?
I pondered the thousands—millions?—of couples just like them, whose love story began in a Pizza Hut, because Pizza Hut used to be a place where you could go on a first date. I am not claiming that the restaurant is a civic institution. But once upon a time, Pizza Hut was filled with other people, and being around other people does the soul good.
Nostalgia seems to be a powerful consumer force in today’s world. What people remember as a kid or decades ago can drive behavior today. Or perhaps what looks like a simpler past is attractive compared to the unpredictability and change of today.
But this second piece is also interesting. Restaurants can be places to be around others and have positive social interactions. Everyone has to eat and eating together can bring people together. Having regular social interactions in a restaurant or continuing relationships that exist outside the restaurant can be rewarding.
Two things still strike me: this is all happening within locations of an international brand with thousands of locations and it is might be happening more in smaller communities where these classic locations are. On the first, Pizza Hut is out to make money. It is part of a private company. The classic experience sells. It might be a gathering place or a local institution but it is a commodified global product. Americans may need third places but they are likely to find them at places like Pizza Hut or McDonald’s.
On the second, are small towns or smaller communities more prone to look fondly on the past? Or do they have fewer dining options? On the flip side, are cities less excited about nostalgia, partly because there are always more new options? The classic model may work in some places but it is a product that may not work on the broad scale. Pizza Hut is an institution in certain places and not others and there is money to be made with both options.
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