Pizza Hut 2 with Jen D'Angelo

"Pizza Hut 2 with Jen D'Angelo" is Episode 248 of *Doughboys*, hosted by Mike Mitchell and Nick Wiger. "Pizza Hut 2 with Jen D'Angelo" was released on April 23, 2020.

## Synopsis

The 'boys welcome Jen D'Angelo (*Workaholics*, *Solar Opposites*) for their second full review of Pizza Hut, including the chain's new Big Dipper pizza. And the debut of a new segment, Family Food.

## Nick's intro

In 1997, PepsiCo, the Hydrox of cola, spun off its fast-food division into an independent company, birthing the ominously named Tricon Global Restaurants Inc. with an unending clause requiring the eateries to carry Pepsi products exclusively. This triumvirate of massive chain brands - KFC, Taco Bell, and the largest pizza restaurant in the world - was subsequently renamed to the cheery sounding Yum! Brands, complete with a Jeb Bush-style trailing exclamation point.

And in 2020, this trio became a quartet with the addition of formerly independent West Coast burgery, The Habit, purchased for a staggering 375 million dollars. But the company may wish it hadn't made such an expensive expansion now, as its stock has lost a third of its value due to plummeting restaurant sales in the wake of the COVID crisis.

Although its woes can't all be blamed on the plague, one of its original tri-force of brands, the pizzeria chain, has in fact been struggling for years, highlighted by an embarrassing flop of a rebrand that involved dropping the 'pizza' from its name Facebook-style.

In fact, headlines such as "Yum! Brands CEO David Gibbs Says Company Working Urgently To Fix Pizza Chain," "Pizza Chain Planning To Close As Many As 500 Locations," and "Largest US Pizza Chain Franchisee Could Choose Bankruptcy" all pre-date the current crisis.

And while pizza delivery is surging during the patchwork of regional stay-at-home orders in the U.S., it may not be enough to salvage the struggling Italian-American Goliath.

So can this non-Noid Domino's antagonist right the ship and transmogrify from an anchor to a jewel in the Yum! Brands portfolio?

And will it improve upon one of the worst reviews in this podcast's history?

This week on *Doughboys*, we return to Pizza Hut.

## Fork rating

As Nick mentioned in the intro, way back in 2016 (ep #32) the Doughboys reviewed Pizza Hut. Nick gave it a 2.5, Mitch rated it 3.5, and Neil Campbell gave it an infamous 1 fork review.

For this episode, they focus on the Big Dipper, which is a pizza sliced in strips and includes dipping sauce on the side, but did try other things to consider this a full review.

* Buffalo Chicken Traditional Wings
* Nashville Hot Traditional Wings
 Mike Mitchell
* Big Dipper (1/2 cheese, 1/2 pepperoni)
* Medium Original Pan Pizza
* Buffalo Chicken Bone-Out Wings
* Stuffed Garlic Knots
* Ultimate Hershey's Chocolate Chip Cookie
 Jen D'Angelo
* Big Dipper (1/2 cheese, 1/2 pepperoni)
* Buffalo Chicken Bone-Out Wings
* Nashville Hot Bone-Out Wings
* Cinnabon Mini Rolls

**Spoonman's Bite of the Night** went to the Ultimate Hershey's Chocolate Chip Cookie.

## Family Food

In this brand-new segment, Nick has a food-related survey/list. Mitch and the guest compete to guess the results.

In this episode, Nick has a list of the ten most popular pizza toppings in North America. Three wrong answers ends the game, or the first to get six correct wins.

 extra cheese (#6)
 bell peppers (#8)
 mushrooms (#2)
 pineapple (#9)
 olives (#7)

After Jen won, there was still one item to guess. Mitch tried ham, which was wrong. Jen guessed artichokes; also incorrect. (The 10th item was spinach.)

## Quotes

**Nick**: It's possible.
**Mitch**: Hey Nick, you must be eating a dipshit sandwich, because that's the dumbest fucking theory I've ever heard.

**Nick**: Can I spit some fire at you guys? If you're gonna get a fountain drink at a fast food restaurant, make sure you get some ice. And you might want to have a straw.
**Jen**: I don't know if you guys know this, but when you get chicken nuggets, you can dip 'em in a sauce.
**Nick**: If you get a burger, try a piece of cheese on that bad boy, really wake it up.

## #hashtags

* #TrebekJokerChallenge
* #LockdownComfortEats

## The Feedbag

Are there any food/snack items that are normally on your 'no go' list that you've gotten into over the past couple of weeks?

## Related Episodes

* 64. Doughlympics: Pizza Division
* 143. The Slice Is Right: Juggernaut Region
* DD. The Slice Is Right: Fat Chance Kitchen Semifinals
* DD. Game of P'Zones
* 248. **Pizza Hut 2**
* 360. Pizza Hut 3
* 248. **Pizza Hut 2**
* DD. Twisted Tuesday
* DD. Tool Time Travel
* 342. Hero's Journey: Sub-Optimal: Semi-soft Finals
* DD. Minions: The Rise of Gru
* 373. Blue Bayou

## Photos

Big DipperTraditional Wings (before)Traditional Wings (after)