Pizza Hut Wants to Make World’s Largest Pizza — with 630,496 Slices of Pepperoni
Cooking or baking the world’s largest anything is a great way to get some quick publicity. For some reason, we love giant versions of normal-sized foods and can never seem to get enough of them. In 2003, for instance, a bakery in North Carolina made the world’s biggest cookie. It was over 100 feet wide and weighed more than 40,000 pounds.
The world’s biggest pizza just got bigger
In 2012, a group of Italian chefs set the record for the world’s largest pizza, creating a behemoth that was 1,261.65 square meters. They even named the pizza Ottavia! Now, Pizza Hut is looking to take the record for themselves with a massive pepperoni pie coming in at 3,809 square meters, more than triple the size of Ottavia.
The pizza, cooked by Pizza Hut employees in the LA Convention Center, will weigh nearly 30,000 pounds. To make the pizza, the chefs needed: 13,653 pounds of pizza dough, 4,948 pounds of tomato sauce, 8,800 pounds of cheese, and 630,496 pieces of pepperoni.
The pizza will consist of 68,000 slices which, according to Pizza Hut CEO David Graves, they plan to donate to food banks in the area. Graves is very proud of the chain’s latest accomplishment, saying, “We were the first to deliver a pizza. We’re the first to take an order over the Internet.”
He added, “We’ve always done big, exciting things. And so, breaking the world record for the world’s largest pizza just felt like the right thing to do to celebrate bringing back our largest pizza.”
The popular pizza chain decided to create the massive pie as a way to promote the return of their Big New Yorker pizza, which was absent from their menu for the last 25 years. The Big New Yorker is, in essence, the kind of pizza you’d find at a dollar slice spot. Large and foldable, optimized for on-the-go pizza consumption.
Pizza Hut chefs baked the pizza under a massive heating lamp, in sections, before cutting up the 68,000 slices and sending them to food banks. However, Pizza Hut isn’t the only one introducing new menu items in an unconventional way.
Pizza Hut isn’t the only chain trying something new
Recently, Mountain Dew announced a limited edition Baja Blast hot sauce. The company only made 750 bottles and plans to give them away through a contest, but there’s a good chance they’ll introduce it to the public if the response is positive enough.
Elsewhere, Burger King recently introduced a Mexican Original Chicken Sandwich. The sandwich exists as part of a new series of “international” sandwiches and comes with spicy queso and jalapeños.
It’s enough to make your stomach hurt hearing about all these new fast food options. However, with more choices than ever, popular chains are fighting to stay relevant with new and exciting menu items. In fact, some chains, like Waffle House, are starting to refuse customers demanding trendy meals featured on TikTok and Instagram.
There was a time when only a few chains had something like a secret menu. In-N-Out Burger, for instance, has a not-so-secret secret menu with items like Animal Fries and their take on a grilled cheese sandwich. Now, with the advent of social media trends, every major chain is facing pressure to create or expand a secret menu.