Benin Posted January 18, 2013 Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 They did have a Pizza Hut, as did Towers... Merlin told them to go away, why they're still at Thorpe, I'm not sure, must be some different contract going on... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge2002 Posted January 18, 2013 Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 I think the one at the Towers was shut down due to a loophole thanks to their poor Health and Safety Inspection. And I believe it is true they are the highest grossing store. I think their sales record is somewhere along the lines of 110k+ in one week. I believe the only stores that come close to that are the Trafford Center, The Bullring, and Cribbs Causeway + a few others and only they weigh in at around 60k and that's only one peak week at Christmas time. Then strip out the flow through, they don't have to employ as many staff, they have far less smallwares, crockery and dishes, buffet pizzas intentionally use the cheapest toppings available, whereas dine-in store have a far more elaborate and expensive food order. I can't confirm anything about the term of their lease, but I do know if you ask the majority of huts opened in the same period, they will most likely have ridiculously long contracts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Posted January 18, 2013 Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 Towers one's were franchises I believe. The plaque didn't say anything similar. I can't imagine them having a long contract with the parks really. Maybe 10yrs or so. But for a park, they'd never want to sign up to a too long lease, you need options. McDonalds was on a 10yr lease for instance, replaced by BKs on one year leases. Well, excluding thorpe. God knows what thorpe's on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBobJones Posted January 18, 2013 Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 The sooner they change it to Pizza Pasta I will start going in, not paying full price in Pizza Hut when I can get MAP discount elsewhere. Plus that Pizza hut is so busy it is not enjoyable, in fact very very stressfull when all you want to do is sit down, relax and have a meal. Fred 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RideAddict Posted January 31, 2013 Report Share Posted January 31, 2013 From reading this topic a few pages back, it's clear to see that a lot of people want Pizza Hut to go and be replaced with their own-brand Pizza & Pasta restaurant. I say keep it - Pizza Hut is a well known brand. It's prices may be a little high for some people, I can sympathise with people's opinions there. The Pizza & Pasta resutarants at Alton and Chessington have OK tasting food, but you can certainly tell the difference between the quality and Pizza Hut's. I'm a strong believer in quality, not quantity, so therefore paying a few quid more for something better is worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Posted January 31, 2013 Report Share Posted January 31, 2013 Issue I have is that the Pizza Hut pizzas found at thorpe aren't anywhere near the quality of Pizza Huts elsewhere, even if you just think of the buffet. They pretty much use same ingredients and stuff, and so I don't have much of an issue. Both go for quantity rather than quality, yet thorpes are pretty useless at actually having pizza half the time. DJ Stemix and BigBobJones 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RideAddict Posted February 1, 2013 Report Share Posted February 1, 2013 I agree with you on the quality of it's branches, Fred. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spider Posted February 1, 2013 Report Share Posted February 1, 2013 On 1/31/2013 at 12:24 PM, RideAddict said: From reading this topic a few pages back, it's clear to see that a lot of people want Pizza Hut to go and be replaced with their own-brand Pizza & Pasta restaurant. I say keep it - Pizza Hut is a well known brand. It's prices may be a little high for some people, I can sympathise with people's opinions there. The Pizza & Pasta resutarants at Alton and Chessington have OK tasting food, but you can certainly tell the difference between the quality and Pizza Hut's. I'm a strong believer in quality, not quantity, so therefore paying a few quid more for something better is worth it. I'm struggling to see how going to an All-you-can-ear buffet fits in with someone who's ethos is quality rather than quantity. I would think that the trade off of any buffet place like this is that you get lots of food even if it is crap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RideAddict Posted February 1, 2013 Report Share Posted February 1, 2013 It's good quality food and that's what matters - like I've said, I'm prepared to pay a little bit more for quality. What's not to understand about that?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Posted February 2, 2013 Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 You're not paying more for quality though. You're paying more than a normal PH buffet (cos it's in thorpe) for a worse quality than a usual PH buffet. There's practically no difference between merlin outlets and the PH outlets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge2002 Posted February 2, 2013 Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 You're not being paranoid by the way, the ingredients are actually different. No other dine in Pizza Hut actually sells Medium Pan/Italian, and that's all the buffet consists of. The Regular/Large pizzas you get in the other stores are made differently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RideAddict Posted February 4, 2013 Report Share Posted February 4, 2013 On 2/2/2013 at 11:18 AM, Fred said: You're not paying more for quality though. You're paying more than a normal PH buffet (cos it's in thorpe) for a worse quality than a usual PH buffet. There's practically no difference between merlin outlets and the PH outlets. I challenge this. I can hardly taste the difference between a high street Pizza Hut and Thorpe's one. Price-wise, I'm happy. The difference between Thorpe's Pizza Hut and their own brand restaurants isn't that much. If people here can taste the difference then they must have stronger tastebuds than me! Also, anyone knows where I can get a pizza cutter used in Thorpe's Pizza Hut?! The way the guy chops it up is talented, give him a Samurai sword any day of the week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pluk Posted February 4, 2013 Report Share Posted February 4, 2013 I can't think of much worse than any all you can eat lunch at a theme park. Last thing I want is an uncomfortably full feeling before strapping myself into something fast and twisty and I see a buffet as a value challenge. I did have the Pizza Pasta buffet at AT once and thought it was acceptable at best. Quality eateries, like actual restaurants, are severely lacking throughout Merlin. Kind of understandable when they shut their parks so damn early so are covering lunch times only, but still. That's what I want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted February 4, 2013 Report Share Posted February 4, 2013 I think the lack of dead late openings are the reason our eateries aren't particularly 'quality sit down 3 course meal' like (though that is really the high end version of what you want, and with time lacking at parks, few eateries akin to that are common)... At least the buffets can be digested at Chessie/Towers, one of my main issues with Thorpe is that the only option to wait for your food to digest is to go stand in a ride's queue or do bugger all (Which to be fair, is all there is to do at Thorpe anyway)... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RideAddict Posted February 4, 2013 Report Share Posted February 4, 2013 On 2/4/2013 at 4:23 PM, pluk said: I can't think of much worse than any all you can eat lunch at a theme park. Last thing I want is an uncomfortably full feeling before strapping myself into something fast and twisty and I see a buffet as a value challenge. I have a stomach of steel, I can eat any amount and go on any ride and still feel fine later on. If anything, the parks mage me hungry. All that walking about and waiting is hungry and thirsty work, come rain or shine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Posted February 5, 2013 Report Share Posted February 5, 2013 On 2/4/2013 at 12:06 PM, RideAddict said: I challenge this. I can hardly taste the difference between a high street Pizza Hut and Thorpe's one. Price-wise, I'm happy. You've just argued against someone who works for Pizza Hut (above that post). Interesting. If you're happy with thorpes awful PH, why wouldn't you be happy with merlin doing it considerably better? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky Posted February 5, 2013 Report Share Posted February 5, 2013 I find TP's PH dire, it's either under cooker or overcooked. You can tell the difference because all the ones in the highstreet take time whereas TP they just throw it in a pan throw cheese on whip it in the oven in less than 2 minutes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RideAddict Posted February 6, 2013 Report Share Posted February 6, 2013 Ricky, they're a self-service restaurant in Thorpe, they're bound to make them quicker! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattgwise Posted February 6, 2013 Report Share Posted February 6, 2013 On 2/5/2013 at 7:00 PM, Ricky said: I find TP's PH dire, it's either under cooker or overcooked. You can tell the difference because all the ones in the highstreet take time whereas TP they just throw it in a pan throw cheese on whip it in the oven in less than 2 minutes! I must be the only one to disagree reading all the negative comments about Pizza Hut at TP. I always find the pizzas better here than any of the three local Pizza Huts near me. I often visit the buffets in school holidays as I work in a school and often they are dry and lack in toppings. Maybe I have just caught Thorpe Park Pizza Hut on good days, but I think only about 2 out of 20ish visits have be dire in Pizza Hut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky Posted February 6, 2013 Report Share Posted February 6, 2013 Last time I went into PH at TP I didn't enjoy at all, felt a bit sick after like 3 slices! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBobJones Posted February 6, 2013 Report Share Posted February 6, 2013 I won't be returning to TP PH, the Merlin outlets are much better, apart from Battered Fish N Chips which is vile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RideAddict Posted February 7, 2013 Report Share Posted February 7, 2013 On 2/6/2013 at 5:26 PM, mattgwise said: I must be the only one to disagree reading all the negative comments about Pizza Hut at TP. I always find the pizzas better here than any of the three local Pizza Huts.At last, someone who agrees with me, someone with good taste buds.BigBobJones, I so agree with the fish and chips. Awful isn't it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexander Posted February 7, 2013 Report Share Posted February 7, 2013 The chips from the Fish n Chip shop are vile. The battered sausages are good though! The noodle place is my favourite though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jammy3112 Posted February 7, 2013 Report Share Posted February 7, 2013 I've only been to the Pizza Hut Buffet at Thorpe once. To be honest, I couldn't really taste the difference between high street and theme park Pizza Huts. Either way, it's a Pizza My main eatery at Thorpe is the Mexican Cantina Love that place! I thought it was quite expensive, until I saw how much you got in your box! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RideAddict Posted February 7, 2013 Report Share Posted February 7, 2013 I remember a few years back they introduced a Chilli Pot. That was horrible, I'll always remember having one at the Stealth Diner during it's first season. I can't remember if this Chilli Pot is still available. But has anyone been to Mexican Cantina in Alton Towers, near The Flume? It's very good, but all I can say is take that same music track off repeat! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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