the outlook for overpriced Pizza has never been better who's gonna stop us Big Marketing budgets
and even bigger pizzas here's 10 secrets about the Giant Pizza War of the 90s Domino's 30 minute
guarantee three four minutes four minutes late pizza's free there was a time when you didn't
have to wonder when your pizza would arrive if you placed an order with Domino's in the early
90s your order would come with a guarantee your pizza would be delivered in 30 minutes or less
or it was free this was a win-win for Bulls the pizza conglomerate and the customer more brand
awareness meant more pizzas being ordered and that meant that customers everywhere were getting
first-hand experience with the 30 minutes or less guarantee for a Time sings were great Domino's had
carved out a section of the industry and were the reigning delivery Champs until December of
1993. that's when a delivery driver was dispatched from a store in St Louis and in attempt to honor
the 30-minute or less guarantee ran a red light and smashed into another car injuring The woman
Inside that's not good Domino's was forced to cough up 78 million dollars in damages to the
woman and consequently they realized that the 30-minute guarantee was not exactly sustainable
anymore how much pizza can 78 million dollars buy enough to make an industry Titan change their
workplace protocol sadly we've yet to see The Return of Domino's ill-fated guarantee something
tells us that it'll be a long time before the subject comes up in the Domino's boardroom
three chains ruled the pizza industry Rising fast you might have wanted to move up the ladder of one
foodie weirdos personal Pizza email blast yeah in the year 1993 there were many fledgling pizza
chains and Giants alike that thrived in the nation but it turns out that what consumers like they
really like dominoes Little Caesars and Pizza Hut these three chains accounted for 48 of the pizza
industry at this time this meant that among these three pizza places half of America chose them as
their go-to pizza spot Empires rise and fall at a moment's notice but at this time if you were
ordering pizza chances are it was from one of these three chains each chain had its own claim
to fame for dominoes it was delivery for Pizza Hut dine in locations were thriving and new and
improved menu items were coming out all the time Little Caesars was content with being the Emperor
of sales boasting record-breaking finances and and being declared as one of the nation's fastest
growing chains this uneasy Alliance would not hold however as in the coming years each would attempt
to make their mark on The Culinary space and Edge out the rest of the competition some would succeed
While others would fall flat on their face when we lose we lose big this doesn't change the fact
that at one time this pizza triumvirate ruled over the nation's cravings Little Caesars was the pizza
of value price is one thing taste is enough Little Caesars was able to offer their customers the most
bang for their buck with their in-house pies and lack of delivery option this led to them offering
their pizza at outrageous prices so much so that consumers were taking notice for less than ten
dollars you could dine on two one-topping pizzas from Little Caesars which were packaged in the
bundle that denotes the company's famous slogan Pizza Pizza it would be five long years before
a considerable price change was made why wait for delivery just to pay an extra cost when you could
simply order the cheapest pizza in town and go grab it yourself Little Caesars thrived under this
Banner they weren't content just to be the master of sales they wanted more and their pizza deals
would provoke all-out Warfare in the pizza space and cause many of their competitors to rethink the
idea that Little Caesars was content to just stay in their Lane even to this day the pizza chain is
committed to giving customers the most value for their money money in 2022 you can still pick up
a hot and ready pizza at Little Caesars for just over five bucks Little Caesar's spaghetti bucket
spaghetti angel I'm making a spaghetti angel for those who are curious let us relieve some of that
tension right now Little Caesar's spaghetti bucket was exactly what it sounded like yes that's right
for just under nine dollars you and your family can enjoy an entire tub of noodles and sauce
from the pizza Chain little is known about this culinary invention in many circles it's passed
into a sort of misdom like some pizza folklore of years past the few people that can recall tasting
it say it was somewhat underwhelming although to be fair what exactly were you expecting from
a gigantic plastic tub of spaghetti let's just say that traditional Italian is not exactly what
made Little Caesars famous the marketing campaign designed for this menu item was nothing short of
extravagant in recent Years Little Caesars has remained content to remain in their wheelhouse
but there was a time in the early 90s when they reached for the Stars not only did they roll
out increasingly crazy deals like the spaghetti bucket but they all also took direct Jabs at their
opposition it wasn't uncommon for Little Caesars to come out swinging in their commercials and call
out their competitors by name mentioning dominoes and others directly in their ads the pizza War of
the 90s was on but Little Caesars had one more secret to roll out Little Caesars big big cheese
what a big cheese in an attempt to deliver a fatal blow to their competitors Little Caesars
was ready to deploy the biggest weapon in their Arsenal the chain was desperately searching for a
way to get ahead of Pizza Hut and Domino's so they decided the only way to compete would be to offer
a massive Pizza without the massive price Little Caesars decided to launch the big big cheese it
was two massive Detroit style pizzas that dwarfed their previous counterparts for only 8.88 you can
enjoy this famous deal and as a result Little Caesar's sales Rose over 50 percent that's your
entire profit margin they had delivered a blow to the opposition but could it be enough to win
over the hearts of the nation's Pizza consumers in the value Department it was a done deal no one in
town could beat the price while Little Caesars basked in the glory of their success the other
Pizza Giants in town were plotting it wouldn't be long before Little Caesars would bring down new
competition on their head Pizza Hut responds with the Bigfoot remember to Pizza Hut Bigfoot pizza
from the 90s if Little Caesars thought that the other pizza companies would just lie down and take
it they had another thing coming shortly after the big big cheese was released Pizza Hut would answer
with the Bigfoot if people thought that Little Caesars had upped the ante then the bigfoot was
set to surprise this pizza was a foot thick and two feet long and only cost eleven dollars it was
a deep dish style pie that consisted of over 20 slices and came in its own specially designed box
if big pizza was now the name of the game then Pizza Hut was here to play a worthy competitor
emerges they sung millions of dollars into the advertising budget taking out ads and newspapers
magazines on billboards TV spots radio and so on Pizza Hut was here to stay and they had declared
as much with the Bigfoot sales for Pizza Hut's soared and record numbers across 9 000 locations
and it was clear that people were seeing what Pizza Hut was laying down Little Caesars appeared
to be beat at their own game and many consumers flocked to the red roofed Outlets however not all
of the marketing campaign was a success as you'll see in our next entry the Bigfoot blimp Fiasco
it's no secret that Pizza Hut dumped millions of dollars into its advertising budget when Little
Caesars and others declared war in the early 90s but not all of these advertising dollars
went toward great campaigns it's rumored that Pizza Hut paid over 4 million dollars for this
next tragedy and when you see how it all ended up it may leave some scratching their heads the
Bigfoot blimp was a giant hot air vehicle that featured the Pizza Hut logo on it which also
advertised the titular Pizza it seemed like a novel idea but some were taking notice I
mean how can you ignore your cravings for pizza when there's a literal giant Glimpse sent from
the pizza overlords flying above you some say that this marketing Ploy was responsible for an
increase in sales on behalf of the company but others beg to differ agree to disagree
despite contrasting opinions the debate would come to an end on July 4th 1993 when the blimp would
crash into an apartment building in Manhattan in New York City during a Fourth of July celebration
luckily no one was seriously hurt but the company decided to steer clear of any flying
forms of advertisement in the future Domino's limps into battle with the Dominator finally
worthy opponent dominoes unveiled its newest creation in the form of the Dominator it was a
massive Pizza like its competitors but still held its circular shape it was certainly the biggest
of the three but could it hold up in both taste and value Domino's was offering this pizza for
around the same price of ten dollars so we're all good there but when push came to shove people just
weren't as excited about it when you pair that with a rather careless design flaw you have a
recipe for disaster what could be wrong with a pizza of this magnitude you ask well it's just
that it was too big Domino's found that more and more of their drivers were complaining
that they weren't able to fit the pizza into their cars I'm sorry it just doesn't fit
and as a result they were forced to offer the menu item in store only this only passed the buck for
a moment as customers who came to pick up the pie found that they were having the exact same problem
as the delivery Fleet there are many reasons why the Dominator fails to make its Mark maybe people
had had enough of the Giant Pizza Wars maybe bigger wasn't always better it's fair to say
that this is usually the last cited incident of the pizza war and after the Dominator Domino's
Little Caesars and Pizza Hut were content to let their products speak for themselves
thank the pizza War for stuffed crust is Pizza Hut's stuffed crust the greatest stuff in the
world well oftentimes nothing good can come of War like this sometimes there are a few
innovations that come about as a result during Pizza Hut's marketing craze a woman named Patty
shy Mayer was appointed as a product development team member who was in charge of products like the
Bigfoot although the gigantic pizza's time would come and go Pizza Hut's decision to appoint Patty
would lead them to arguably their biggest claim to fame stuffed crust it was Patty who after many
years on the development team decided to put the cheese into the crust and as a result one of the
best pizzas of all time was created stuffed crust pizza we can thank the pizza War of the 90s for
giving Patty am full time to cut her teeth in the marketing world and discern what customers wanted
most even though you can't find the big big cheese the Bigfoot or the dumb on menus today we can take
solace in the idea that these pizzas all made way for the stuffed crust version War what is it good
for well Pizza of course in war nobody wins no clear winner huh no after all it was said and
done these pizza companies didn't exactly shape the face of the future each company has had its
trials and tribulations in recent years Domino's saw heavy controversy in the 2000s and has since
attempted a Rebrand Little Caesars was forced to close hundreds of locations around the turn
of the century Pizza Hut gave up on the Bigfoot and rained in its ludicrous marketing campaigns
for other menu items while it may have been exciting for some of the smaller companies to
try to make a name for themselves in the end it's all a tad Bitter Sweet to know that no
matter how these chains may try to nudge ahead of the competition everyone has their personal
preference what the heck is that that's broccoli on pizza that's it I'm done while dominoes remains
ahead in the sales department each of the three companies is content to own their own little
slice of the pizza pie we won't say that these sleeping Giants will never raise another media
storm like that of the 90s but for now there is peace in the pizza space we'd rather come
together over Pizza than let it drive us apart and there's something endearing about that hungry for
more then check out another great Babble top video just tap or click thanks for watching