By Ivor Jones
In April 1970, more than 55 years ago, Australians were introduced to pizza with the introduction of Pizza Hut restaurants to this country. Back then, Pizza Hut were actual restaurants where you could take the family and sit and eat.
The restaurants were licenced so that you could have a beer or wine with your meal, they had a salad bar, dessert bar and offered an “all you could eat” menu selection on special occasions.
The restaurants were easily identifiable with their red roofs and distinctive architectural style, designed by Chicago architect George Lindstrom in 1963 and since the closure of many of the restaurants, the buildings have been converted to other uses such as liquor stores, veterinary surgeries and a multitude of other services. You can still, however, recognise the Pizza Hut architecture, and remember the days when these buildings were once operating as a Pizza Hut restaurant.
I have fond memories of my wife and I dining at a local Pizza Hut during our lunch time whilst both working at Parramatta back in the 1980s and recently discovered that there are still some twenty plus old-style Pizza Huts still operating around the country including one at Windsor.
Pizza Hut like many other “fast food” chains, first started in the United States. Two brothers, Dan and Frank Carney, borrowed $600 from their mother to set up a small pizza outlet in Wichita, Kansas in 1958. They were aggressive marketers and decided to franchise their brand “Pizza Hut”. With more than 1000 stores in the US and Canada by 1971 it was the largest pizza chain in the world.
Whilst I have only mentioned the history of Pizzas in Australia so far, pizzas and similar foods have been around for many centuries and in many cultures especially in Mediterraneum countries.
Pizzas as we know them were first created in Naples and sold by street vendors to the working poor in the early 1800s. In 1889 Queen Margherita and King Umberto enquiring why their subjects seemed so well fed asked to try this apparently popular dish. A pizza was delivered in the colours of the Italian flag. Some say that this was the first Margherita and also the first home delivered pizza.
Pizzas arrived in America in the early 1900s with the influx of Italian migrants and the first Pizza Hut Windsor in the 1990s And Today Pizzeria in the US opened in Manhattan in 1905.
There are currently eight dine-in Pizza Hut restaurants remaining in Australia. These remaining locations are primarily in regional areas, with some in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, and Tasmania. While Pizza Hut still has nearly 300 stores in Australia, most are focused on delivery and online orders, a strategy that became popular during the company’s expansion in the mid-90s.
There are three dine-in Pizza Hut restaurants remaining in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. These are located in Minto, Orange, and Windsor. These locations are known for offering an all-you-can-eat pizza, pasta, and dessert buffet.
