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At one time, the popular pizza chain was the favorite for parents and children to enjoy its all-you-can-eat buffet, help-yourself greens station, and ice cream with toppings.

However not as many diners are choosing the restaurant nowadays, and it is closing 50% of its UK outlets after being bought out of administration for the second occasion this year.

I remember going Pizza Hut when I was a child,” explains a young adult. “It was a tradition, you'd go on a Sunday – turn it into an event.” Today, as a young adult, she says “it's fallen out of favor.”

For a diner in her twenties, certain features Pizza Hut has been known and loved for since it started in the UK in the seventies are now outdated.

“The manner in which they do their all-you-can-eat and their salad bar, it appears that they are cheapening on their quality and have reduced quality... They offer so much food and you're like ‘How can they?’”

As ingredient expenses have risen sharply, Pizza Hut's all-you-can-eat model has become increasingly pricey to run. Similarly, its locations, which are being cut from 132 to a smaller figure.

The chain, in common with competitors, has also experienced its costs rise. This spring, staffing costs increased due to increases in the legal wage floor and an higher rate of employer taxes.

Two diners say they used to go at Pizza Hut for a date “from time to time”, but now they get delivery from a rival chain and think Pizza Hut is “very overpriced”.

Depending on your choices, Pizza Hut and Domino's costs are comparable, notes a food expert.

While Pizza Hut provides pickup and delivery through delivery platforms, it is losing out to big rivals which specialize to the delivery sector.

“Another pizza company has taken over the takeaway pizza sector thanks to intensive advertising and constantly running deals that make consumers feel like they're saving money, when in reality the original prices are on the higher side,” notes the specialist.

However for Chris and Joanne it is worth it to get their special meal sent directly.

“We definitely eat at home now more than we eat out,” comments one of the diners, matching current figures that show a decrease in people visiting informal dining spots.

Over the summer, informal dining venues saw a six percent decline in diners compared to the previous year.

There is also another rival to pizza from eateries: the cook-at-home oven pizza.

An industry leader, head of leisure and hospitality at an advisory group, notes that not only have retailers been providing good-standard ready-to-bake pizzas for years – some are even promoting countertop ovens.

“Shifts in habits are also playing a factor in the success of casual eateries,” says Mr. Hawkley.

The rising popularity of low-carb regimens has increased sales at chicken shops, while hitting sales of carb-heavy pizza, he continues.

Because people visit restaurants not as often, they may prefer a more upscale outing, and Pizza Hut's American-diner style with booth seating and traditional décor can feel more dated than upmarket.

The growth of premium pizza outlets” over the last decade and a half, for example popular brands, has “fundamentally changed the general opinion of what good pizza is,” says the industry commentator.

“A light, fresh, easy-to-digest product with a select ingredients, not the overly oily, dense and piled-high pizzas of the past. That, I think, is what's resulted in Pizza Hut's struggles,” she says.

“What person would spend a high price on a tiny, mediocre, unsatisfying pizza from a chain when you can get a gorgeous, skillfully prepared classic pizza for under a tenner at one of the many real Italian restaurants around the country?

“The decision is simple.”

An independent operator, who runs a small business based in a regional area says: “It's not that fallen out of love with pizza – they just want better pizza for their money.”

The owner says his mobile setup can offer premium pizza at accessible prices, and that Pizza Hut struggled because it could not keep up with changing preferences.

At a small pizza brand in a city in southwest England, the proprietor says the sector is broadening but Pizza Hut has failed to offer anything new.

“There are now slice concepts, London pizza, New Haven-style, artisan base, Neapolitan, Detroit – it's a wonderful array for a pizza-loving consumer to explore.”

The owner says Pizza Hut “needs to reinvent itself” as younger people don't have any emotional connection or attachment to the brand.

In recent years, Pizza Hut's share has been fragmented and allocated to its fresher, faster competitors. To maintain its expensive staffing and restaurants, it would have to charge more – which industry analysts say is challenging at a time when family finances are tightening.

The managing director of Pizza Hut's global operations said the rescue aimed “to safeguard our dining experience and protect jobs where possible”.

It was explained its key goal was to continue operating at the surviving locations and off-premise points and to assist staff through the restructure.

However with so much money going into running its restaurants, it may be unable to allocate significant resources in its off-premise division because the sector is “complex and working with existing delivery apps comes at a price”, analysts say.

But, he adds, cutting its costs by withdrawing from oversaturated towns and city centres could be a smart move to adjust.