Pizza Hut Starts Delivering BEER with your pizza!

Pizza Hut expands beer delivery to seven states

Consumers are more and more all about convenience and speed of service. Restaurants that don’t offer in-home delivery on their own or through GrubHub, UberEats and others are losing market share. The Pizza industry is #1 for “dine at home” options and now Pizza Hut steps out to be the leader once again.

More than a year after first testing beer delivery in Arizona, Pizza Hut said Monday it will expand the pilot program to 300 restaurants in seven states by mid-January.

Restaurants in Florida, Iowa, Nebraska, North Carolina, and Ohio will add delivery of popular domestic beer labels such as Budweiser as part of a second phase expansion of the program. In May, the division of Yum Brands added beer delivery to 100 locations in Arizona and California. Those states will also see more restaurants adding beer delivery in the coming weeks.

“The rollout is a brand priority with Pizza Hut aiming to grow beer delivery capabilities to 1,000 restaurants across new markets by summer 2019,” the company said.

Pizza Hut, based in Plano, Texas, said the company timed the expansion to meet the demands of the Super Bowl, a popular day for pizza delivery.

“As the official Pizza Sponsor of the NFL, we’ve been celebrating football fans all season long, so it only makes sense for us to bring more customers the beloved combo of pizza and beer ahead of the Super Bowl,” chief brand officer Marianne Radley said in a statement. “We are proud to be pioneers of beer delivery and are well-poised to take on more markets in the coming year.”

Pizza Hut, based in Plano, Texas, said the company timed the expansion to meet the demands of the Super Bowl, a popular day for pizza delivery.

The current beers available for Pizza Hut beer delivery include 2-packs and 6-packs of Blue Moon, Bud Light, Budweiser, Busch Light, Coors Light, Corona Extra, Kilt Lifter, Michelob Ultra, Miller Lite, Miller High Life, Shock Top and Stella Artois. The company did not provide costs.

In May, when beer delivery expanded in California and Arizona, the prices ranged between $3 and $4.50 for two packs and $5.99 and $10.99 for six packs.

Beer delivery comes amid perception problems for the brand.

Over the past year, Pizza Hut has worked to revitalize the brand through value promotions and a focus on growing delivery and carryout-focused restaurants.

In the third quarter of last year, Pizza Hut’s same-store sales declined 1 percent, which included a 3 percent decline at international restaurants and a 1 percent gain in the U.S.

Pizza Hut has more than 16,800 restaurants around the world. Of those, about 7,500 are in the U.S.