Supporting its new strapline, “Feed Good Times,” Pizza Hut is slowly reintroducing a logo design that was first introduced when the chain was enjoying the good times, in the early 1970s to the 1990s, when it had captured the largest slice of the fast-food pizza market. (Today, Domino’s holds the lead by a slight margin, but there are also many other contenders fragmenting the market.)
The new design hearkens back to the flared double-z design created by Lippincott & Margulies in 1974. The familiar Pizza Hut red roof was also introduced into the identity at that time. The 1974 design lasted until 1999, when Landor updated the logo; this version lasted until 2008. The origin of the most recent, pizza-shaped design, shown here, is unknown; it retained the flowing double-z’s, but it now used a script that could have been handwritten.
The newest design returns to typeset letterforms, this time pushing the z’s into the “u” in hut. It’s a tighter, more modern design, and its roots in the 1974 design are clearly visible.