Pi-Consulting

Several centuries after Marco Polo introduced pasta noodles from China to Italians, that inventive race went one better and invented pizza, which promptly swept onto the fast-food menus of a grateful world. Now the tide may be beginning to reverse, at least in the UK, where Pizza Hut (700 restaurants across the country) has decided to re-name itself Pasta Hut. This startling decision is an effort to charm anew those customers whose palates have perhaps become jaded by family-sized Pepperoni Specials, Quattro Stagiones and American Hots, or are concerned about healthy-eating issues. Under its new name, the company is set to spend around $170 million on improving its restaurants, opening more outlets and developing its menu. The restaurants will still sell pizzas, but the new pasta-linked name will show that a range of healthier meals are now on offer, featuring a variety of new pasta-based dishes. Says chief executive Alasdair Murdoch: “We’re doing it to try to attract customers who probably haven’t been in for a few years”. It remains to be seen if the spirit of Marco Polo will exert the same influence over other pizza-eating countries like the USA. Source: London Financial Times, WARC News, Pi