The pizza business has changed over the past 20 years. And nowhere is that more apparent than in the future plans of St. Joseph based Michigan Pizza Hut (MPH), as it remakes its stores in St. Joseph and Berrien Springs. Both restaurants have a long history of ‘dine-in’, with entire families coming to Pizza Hut for a sit-down family dinner, often highlighted by a trip to the big salad and dessert bar.
Those days are over.
A myriad of competitors turned the pizza business into a race to the bottom price-wise and generational change led to a business dominated by carry-out and delivery for busy millennials. No more leisurely family dinners in the dining room at Pizza Hut!
At the same time, specialty pizza has ‘become a thing.’ Silver Beach Pizza below the Bluff in St. Joseph boasts long lines waiting for a table during the tourist season and upscale restaurants have added wood-fired pizza ovens and specialty pies to their menus. Tosi’s on Ridge Road in Stevensville and Ryebelle’s in downtown St. Joseph are two examples.
As a result, MPH, the owner of more than 40 Pizza Huts along the Lake Michigan coastline from New Buffalo to the Upper Peninsula, has been re-imagining its Pizza Hut locations, phasing out thousands of square feet dedicated to in-dining and focusing on carry-out and delivery, driven by the competitive, generational and preference changes.
Two of MPH’s largest and most successful locations are St. Joseph and Berrien Springs. Both are slated for a total rebuild, with Berrien Springs already underway. Temporarily, the St. Joseph project is being put off, but only until the Spring.
That’s according to Michigan Pizza Hut’s Chad White, who spoke to our colleagues at WSJM News. “Just because of the weather and it getting later in the year, we decided we wanted to make sure everything went properly. So we’re going to start St. Joseph in the spring.” White said contractors have already been at work on the Berrien Springs location. (architect rendering below)
The new restaurant on Niles Avenue in St. Joseph Township (rendering in headline photo) is projected to be 1,400 square feet, with the elimination of the dining area and the emphasis on drive-thru and carryout only. Several smaller Pizza Hut locations in the region have already been revamped, but those were not as prominent as dine-in restaurants in the past.
by Gayle Olson, MOTM Contributor
