Pizza Hut is testing a new round pizza box that looks like a spaceship and is meant to keep pizza fresher
- Pizza Hut is testing new round pizza boxes on Wednesday at a restaurant in Phoenix, Arizona.
- The pizza boxes, made by food startup Zume, were designed to keep pizza hotter, fresher, and crispier.
- The boxes stack and interlock. They are also compostable and use less material than traditional square pizza boxes, according to the chain.
- Pizza Hut will also test a new plant-based "meat" topping at the same Phoenix location.
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Pizza Hut has a futuristic new round pizza box that looks like a spaceship.
Partnering with food startup Zume, Pizza Hut is testing the new round box at a Phoenix location for one day only on Wednesday, the chain announced Tuesday.
The pizza box will be available as part of a one-day event at the Pizza Hut at 3602 E. Thomas Road, at which Pizza Hut will also be testing a pizza with a plant-based "meat" topping called "Incogmeato." Incogmeato is an all-new plant-based "meat" from Kellogg-owned Morningstar Farms and will be served on a Garden Specialty Pizza.
The round pizza box and Garden Specialty Pizza will be sold together for $10 in store, while supplies last.
"This revolutionary round box - the result of a two year journey - is the most innovative packaging we've rolled out to date," Pizza Hut's chief customer and operations officer, Nicolas Burquier, said in a press release. "The round box was engineered to make our products taste even better - by delivering hotter, crispier pizzas."
The round box uses less space and fewer materials than a traditional square pizza box, and it is also industrially compostable, according to the chain. Boxes stack and interlock in order to simplify the delivery process.
"When you put pizza on a flat surface, it cools off and the moisture is absorbed into the box. As the pizza gets cold, the moisture is absorbed back into the pizza," Zume founder and CEO Alex Garden told Business Insider. "So we created this box where we have the pizza sitting on a raised cushion and air actually circulates so it stays crispy all the time."
All proceeds from the event's sales will be donated to Arizona Forward, a sustainability organization based in Phoenix. The chain said that after the one-day test, it will be looking into a wider launch of the round box.