ADAM: Pizza Hut started in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas.
And by 1986, they opened their 5,000th location.
This is actually it right here in Dallas, Texas.
ADAM (VOICEOVER): In the 1980s, Pizza Hut
was atop the pizza pyramid, earning over $2 billion
in sales in the middle of the decade.
But it was a new market that was taking shape,
and Pizza Hut wanted a slice.
"The Chicago Tribune" reported that white collar workers saw
their numbers rise by more than 5 and 1/2 million,
an increase of 24% during the 1980s.
So Pizza Hut set out to find more ways
to appeal to the new lunchtime crowds
with new menu additions, the first of which
you might still recognize.
That's right.
It's their '80s innovation pan pizza and the infamous lost
dishes that soon followed.
So to learn all about the pan pizza,
as well as Pizza Hut '80s creations
that we don't have around today, I'm going to meet
with a man who's seen it all.
This is Bill Walsh.
He is the franchisee.
So how long have you been with Pizza Hut?
BILL WALSH: I started in 1966 and I got paid $0.50 an hour
and all the beer I could drink.
That's a great job.
BILL WALSH: I thought I had died and gone to heaven.
ADAM: What was it like in the early days?
BILL WALSH: It was wild.
They were opening a store a day.
We really didn't have any problem except for New York.
New York?
Yeah.
They opened up 10 Pizza Huts on Long Island
and they all failed because it was not a New York-style pizza.
And that's where pan pizza came along years later.
Is that still the most popular pizza?
It is the most popular pizza.
ADAM (VOICEOVER): Before we get into the long-lost Pizza Hut
item that people have been craving for decades,
we need to first take a pit stop at the story of pan pizza.
They were thicker than New York-style pizza
and had ingredients added in a different order
than deep dish pizza, with the sauce first, then cheese.
Pizza Hut added pan pizzas to their menu in 1980,
nine years before any of their competitors.
But it was 1983 when they introduced their game changer--
the personal pan pizza.
Its commercials promised it would
be ready in just five minutes in an effort
to lure in the lunch crowd.
ADVERTISER: New personal pan pizza at Pizza Hut.
Ready in five minutes or your next one's free.
We guarantee it.
ADAM (VOICEOVER): And it worked.
It's been reported that the personal pan
pizza bumped up their lunchtime business by 70%.
So I'm going to strap on my Marty McFly
"Back to the Future" shades.
We are going to get an authentic personal pan pizza.
Let's do it.
[music playing]
There's that crunch of the cheese and the toppings
and then that pillowy tear, like, so good.
BILL WALSH: That browning on the crust
is what gives you a lot of the flavor and texture
that you've mentioned.
It fries in the pan as it moves through the oven.
And that's what gives it the great feel
on the bottom of the crust.
ADAM (VOICEOVER): The personal pan pizza was a hit
with the '80s lunch crowd.
But it wasn't the only way Pizza Hut won over midday diners.
They had another dish that advertised the same brisk five
minute prep time.
ADVERTISER: They serve it in five minutes, guaranteed.
ADVERTISER: Calizza Italian turnover at Pizza Hut.
ADAM: Look at that.
The Calizza has not been made since 1992.
Because of that buttery exterior,
how it almost fries the dough in that pan,
the dough is as much a part of the flavor
as it is the filling inside.
The Calizza is so good it baffles me
why it's not around anymore.
Well, its demise was ultimately due to the challenge
of cooking something so thick in time
to be ready in five minutes.
Though the Calizza may be lost to history,
today at least it's brought some joy to this '80s kid.