Pizza Hut Is Still Having Trouble Wooing North American Customers

Pizza Hut is hoping they can get North American customers interested in their tasty pies at some point in the very near future.

Although the company is seeing a boost in sales overseas, it would seem that folks in the U.S. are looking to other restaurants to satisfy their cravings for pizza. Despite a tie-in with Paramount Pictures’ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and a pie-ordering app on Xbox 360, Pizza Hut is still struggling to capture the North American market.

According to Businessweek, Pizza Hut has suffered decreasing sales for the past seven quarters. Are Americans turning their back on pizza altogether? Not quite; Domino’s and Papa John’s have watched their numbers steadily increase over the same time period. So what in the world is Pizza Hut doing wrong?

Yum! Brands CEO David Novak believes they’ve hit a temporary speed bump.

“We’re obviously disappointed with second-quarter results and particularly with the very poor performance in our U.S. business. We’ve had our ebbs and flows vs. the competition over the years, and I can assure you we will be back.”

The Consumerist reports that Pizza Hut has taken a vested interest in the Chinese market, a region that seems to appreciate what the restaurant has to offer. The company is reportedly expanding to a whopping 1,134 restaurants in the area since sales are briskly moving in a positive direction.

However, don’t accuse Pizza Hut of favoring China over the United States.

“As we’ve matured around the world, we’ve developed dedicated resources to handle that growth without wavering on our commitments to our business here.”

It’s currently unclear what steps Pizza Hut is taking to increase their Stateside numbers. The Inquisitr previously reported that NPC International, the company’s biggest domestic franchisee, believes Yum! Brands should begin focusing more on social media and digital promotion. Not surprisingly, NPC wasn’t at all happy to learn that sales had dropped 77 percent during the first quarter of 2014 when compared to last year’s figures.

NPC CEO Jim Schwartz feels a lack of a significant online presence is to blame.

“We must strengthen the brand’s connection with the Millennial generation and drive greater consistency among our value and service offerings. Digital drives greater loyalty, and it drives greater activation, and in many cases, consumers can find the best value in respect to the offerings embedded in digital. That’s not an area we have kept up with, and we know that. It’s an opportunity for us.”

Why do you think Pizza Hut continues to struggle in the United States?

[Lead image via Bing]