Pizza Hut

Restaurant sales may be recovering nicely in the U.S., but eateries are increasingly looking abroad, where diners are more accepting of innovations such as Pizza Hut's new cheeseburger-crusted pies in the Middle East. Think it's a joke? A fantasy food dreamed up by a teenage boy? Even the advertisement acknowledges how silly it all sounds. In the video, diners look on agog as a royal page brings in the monstrosity “masterpiece” - dubbed the “Crown Crust Pizza” - on a cushion.

A pair of mustachioed pizza makers in blue aprons - visible from behind a glass display at a new Domino's store in Seattle - tossed dough into the air as a handful of corporate executives looked on. Domino's calls the concept "pizza theater" because customers now can come in and watch their orders being made. The new look is part of a four-year effort to freshen the pizza chain's image and boost its growing ranks of carryout customers. The open-kitchen format includes seating for a dozen or so people, a chalkboard where customers can leave comments, and a refrigerated section for grab-and-go items such as salads and milk.

We don't know what Subway ever did to Pizza Hut, but the quirky pizza chain is attempting a “takeover” of the sandwich giant's market with its new P'Zolo concept. Pizza Hut? Making a sandwich? Coming from the company that has ringed its crusts with mini-cheeseburgers and stuffed them with hot dogs , it's not really a stretch. The chain's new product, officially launched this week, comes in Meat Trio, Italian Steak and Buffalo Chicken and looks like a cross between a sub, a roll and a Costco-style chicken bake.

Two popular chains -- confectioner See's Candies and British retailer Topshop -- are arriving at the Grove shopping center in Los Angeles this month. Topshop, along with its menswear offshoot Topman, is opening its 30,000-square-foot Los Angeles flagship store at the outdoor mall Feb. 14 at 4 p.m. The chain's fourth American store will feature two floors of styles, including colorful jeans, neon vests and a collection exclusive to Los Angeles and handpicked by actress Kate Bosworth.

If you're a Black Keys fan and you've ever been enticed to order a Meat Lovers' Supreme at Pizza Hut or invest in a storage shed from Home Depot, there might have been a subliminal reason. Each company used songs in commercials that sounded an awful lot like tracks from the Black Keys' smash album "El Camino," namely "Lonely Boy" and "Gold on the Ceiling. " The Black Keys noticed this too, and have reportedly settled the resulting lawsuits around copyright infringement of the band's music.

Looking to take your lady love or handsome paramour for a romantic meal this Valentine's Day? White Castle is here for you. Harold and Kumar's favorite burger joint plans to offer a candlelit dinner with table service on Tuesday, just one of many quick service chains angling for a piece of the estimated $3.4 billion that will be spent on holiday dining. Most of that money usually goes to fine-dining establishments. But with many consumers still sensitive to price, fast food eateries are betting that they can siphon away some of the prix-fixe crowd.

Pizza Hut is offering disappointed Christmas celebrants the chance to receive a company gift card to soothe the sting of inferior presents. Through what it's calling a gift exchange, the pizza purveyor is giving a gift card to the first 100 people to tweet photos of their offending presents to @PizzaHut using the hashtag #PizzaHutExchange or #PHXchange. The gift card is good for a $10 Any Pizza, which costs just $10 regardless of size or toppings. Only people in the contiguous U.S. are eligible to participate.

Appropriate topics to broach during a live, televised presidential debate: The economy. The jobs situation. Pizza toppings? Not so much. Pizza Hut has canned its roundly panned stunt to get the question “sausage or pepperoni?” asked during Tuesday's town hall-style event. Instead, the company now plans to run the promotion online. Last week, the pizza pie purveyor told customers that it would give away free pizzas for life -- one large pie weekly for 30 years -- or $15,600 to anyone brave (or dumb)

Fast-food giants McDonald's and Pizza Hut are thinking small after the Super Bowl, with new menu offerings that take after the small plates, tapas and portion-controlled craze. McDonald's this week is adding seafood for the first time to its Happy Meals with its Fish McBites. The seven small pieces of Alaska pollock - which are certified as sustainably sourced - contain 170 calories. The limited time offer will coincide with Lent, which begins next week, and is made with the same fish used in McDonald's Filet-O-Fish sandwiches.

The rumors are true: The Girl Scouts of the USA are pairing up with Nestle to create candy bars flavored like the famous cookies-- and they'll be available this week. The bars will come in three options: Thin Mints, Caramel & Coconut and Peanut Butter Creme, all based on cookies that the Girl Scouts have sold for years to raise money.    On Wednesday, customers can start buying the bars online in a limited-edition pre-sale on the Nestle Crunch Facebook page . Then, from June through September, the bars are to be sold at retailers nationwide.

Fast-food giants McDonald's and Pizza Hut are thinking small after the Super Bowl, with new menu offerings that take after the small plates, tapas and portion-controlled craze. McDonald's this week is adding seafood for the first time to its Happy Meals with its Fish McBites. The seven small pieces of Alaska pollock - which are certified as sustainably sourced - contain 170 calories. The limited time offer will coincide with Lent, which begins next week, and is made with the same fish used in McDonald's Filet-O-Fish sandwiches.

Pizza Hut is offering disappointed Christmas celebrants the chance to receive a company gift card to soothe the sting of inferior presents. Through what it's calling a gift exchange, the pizza purveyor is giving a gift card to the first 100 people to tweet photos of their offending presents to @PizzaHut using the hashtag #PizzaHutExchange or #PHXchange. The gift card is good for a $10 Any Pizza, which costs just $10 regardless of size or toppings. Only people in the contiguous U.S. are eligible to participate.

Nothing like the heady whiff of pepperoni to set a man's heart afire. It began as a gag, but now it's a reality: Pizza Hut perfume, featuring subtle "notes of freshly baked, hand-tossed dough," according to a company news release . Pizza Hut Canada's marketing firm, Grip Ltd., had posted something on Facebook asking what people would call a perfume that captured the enticing aroma of a Pizza Hut pizza. It was a joke. But thousands of Facebookers responded, some asking where they could find such an enticing scent.

If you're a Black Keys fan and you've ever been enticed to order a Meat Lovers' Supreme at Pizza Hut or invest in a storage shed from Home Depot, there might have been a subliminal reason. Each company used songs in commercials that sounded an awful lot like tracks from the Black Keys' smash album "El Camino," namely "Lonely Boy" and "Gold on the Ceiling. " The Black Keys noticed this too, and have reportedly settled the resulting lawsuits around copyright infringement of the band's music.

Pizza Hut has backed off its planned stunt to get the question "sausage or pepperoni?" asked during the live, televised presidential debate Tuesday night. The company had dared guests to ask President Obama and Mitt Romney to divulge their topping of choice during the town hall-style event in return for one large pizza every week for 30 years or a check for $15,600. But now, after a surge of disdain in response to the stunt, the pizza purveyor said it's putting the promotion online instead.

Appropriate topics to broach during a live, televised presidential debate: The economy. The jobs situation. Pizza toppings? Not so much. Pizza Hut has canned its roundly panned stunt to get the question “sausage or pepperoni?” asked during Tuesday's town hall-style event. Instead, the company now plans to run the promotion online. Last week, the pizza pie purveyor told customers that it would give away free pizzas for life -- one large pie weekly for 30 years -- or $15,600 to anyone brave (or dumb)

Pizza Hut has backed off its planned stunt to get the question "sausage or pepperoni?" asked during the live, televised presidential debate Tuesday night. The company had dared guests to ask President Obama and Mitt Romney to divulge their topping of choice during the town hall-style event in return for one large pizza every week for 30 years or a check for $15,600. But now, after a surge of disdain in response to the stunt, the pizza purveyor said it's putting the promotion online instead.

PepsiCo Inc., which introduced mass market soft drinks to the Soviet Union 13 years ago, said today it is negotiating with Soviet officials to open as many as 100 Pizza Hut restaurants there. The proposal would make Pizza Hut the first foreign restaurant company to operate in that country, the company said. The Soviets already have some pizza parlors of their own, it said.

Get ready to pay more for your Papa John's pizza if "Obamacare" goes into full effect … a whopping 15 to 20 cents more. John Schnatter, chief executive of the pizza chain, is bashing President Obama's healthcare reform law as a policy that will force the company to choose between its customers and its investors. And if the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act rolls out as planned in 2014, Schnatter's strategy is “of course … to pass that cost on the consumer in order to protect our shareholders' best interest,” he said in a recent conference call.

We don't know what Subway ever did to Pizza Hut, but the quirky pizza chain is attempting a “takeover” of the sandwich giant's market with its new P'Zolo concept. Pizza Hut? Making a sandwich? Coming from the company that has ringed its crusts with mini-cheeseburgers and stuffed them with hot dogs , it's not really a stretch. The chain's new product, officially launched this week, comes in Meat Trio, Italian Steak and Buffalo Chicken and looks like a cross between a sub, a roll and a Costco-style chicken bake.