Pizza Hut, Domino's most dominant global competitor, was clearly way behind all three national pizza chains in 2005, with a very weak innovation story on new products to sell, and more re-shuffling of menu items with aggressive pricing and programs to bring in the lucrative in-store buyer. The net result from this lack of innovation was Pizza Hut losing significant market share. it's expected that Pizza Hut will be more competitive to be more promotional throughout 2006, and would expect aggressive advertising that accentuates a "value" message.

Given a high gas price environment which is already happening today (as of June 2006), many operators in the pizza category have discussed "value" as a key theme. The challenge will be increasing transactions through "value" offerings while maintaining or boosting average pizza orders. According to Pizza Hut, much of the growth in the category in 2005 has been achieved through higher average...
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