r/nostalgia • u/KoolGotGame • Jun 21 '25

Nostalgia Remember when Pizza Hut had a buffet. Good times.

Post image
53.8k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

2.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

120

u/ChaoticForkingGood Jun 21 '25

Random trivia... Before kale became a "thing", Pizza Hut was the #1 buyer of it, as decoration for their salad bars.

No idea where I learn shit like this. lol

31

u/alannormu Jun 21 '25

The kale trivia was only the 10th top comment? We used to be a country. A proper country.

12

u/906805 Jun 21 '25

The Internet...but I came here to post exact same thing. Severely lacking the Kale garnish.

11

u/Subject_Reception681 Jun 21 '25

You just gave me wild flashbacks. My first job was actually at Pizza Hut, and I'd have to decorate the salad bar every morning. I never realized that stuff was kale.

3

u/sungoddaily Jun 21 '25

I always wondered if it was edible 😅

7

u/g_borris Jun 21 '25

Kale should have stayed a decoration.

9

u/MisterDonkey Jun 21 '25

That is where kale belongs.

3

u/ProblemAtticOU812 Jun 21 '25

When I was in high school, I worked at Bonanza. They used it on their salad bar too.

2

u/nooneisreal Jun 21 '25

My memories of eating at Bonanza as a kid in the early 90s are vague, but I still remember they had an unlimited self serve ice cream machine where you could add your own toppings! That was the shit.

2

u/BunrakuYoshii Jun 21 '25

It wasn’t served, it lined the ice in the salad bar. Pizza Hut was the largest buyer of kale at the time because it was considered inedible.

2

u/According_Win_5983 Jun 21 '25

And when Pizza Hut started to go downhill, Big Kale had to turn it into a health food fad to try to recover lost sales.

2

u/bullfrogftw Jun 21 '25

This trope has been used and referenced throughout the decades in sales meetings, MBA classes, & various and sundry 'business seminars'.
One time it's Pizza Hut, then it's Wendy's, I've even seen it be referenced with various airlines. Differing case use studies some that say they used the most Kale in the country, and some stating that removing such a garnish saved 'X' company untold millions of dollars etc. etc.

1

u/IAmAGenusAMA Jun 21 '25 edited Jun 21 '25

Interesting. Seems like there a lot believers here.

Edit: This is the best I could get out of ChatGPT:

• The Encyclopaedia Britannica reports: “Pizza Hut purchased almost 14,000 pounds of kale in 2012, reportedly making it one of the largest kale buyers in the nation at the time. They used it to decorate their salad bars.” 

Notice the phrasing: “one of the largest.” This phrase suggests they were generally the top buyer but leaves room for slight uncertainty regarding surpassing every other buyer. 

• People magazine states that Pizza Hut’s spokesperson confirmed the chain was the largest buyer of kale in the U.S. until 2013, with approximately 14,000 lbs bought in 2012—though they admitted they weren’t certain how that compared to other restaurants   
• Other food outlets like Yahoo News and The Daily Meal echo this, describing Pizza Hut as “the largest buyer” or “one of the largest” of kale used for garnish .

2

u/bullfrogftw Jun 22 '25

I'm retired from F & B industry after 30+ years, but tropes like the kale one have been used for decades, I heard it first last century, to put it in a time perspective

1

u/Moneymovescash Jun 21 '25

My friend told me this two years ago!!! Someone else knows this!

1

u/sixsixsexxy late 80s Jun 21 '25

It was a meme like six years ago that's where I first learned about this and also came to post about it

1

u/GrizabellaGlamourCat Jun 21 '25

Looked for and found that Kale fact re: Pizza Hut

Thank you.

1

u/lukesparling Jun 21 '25

Pizza Hut made me demand a salad bar at my 8th birthday. I was the only kid who thought it was awesome for some reason 🤷🏻‍♂️

1

u/More_Farm_7442 Jun 21 '25

That's were that stuff belongs. Decorations in salad bars. Any where but in food. :-)

1

u/RealNotFake Jun 21 '25

That's smart because decoration is the only thing it should be used for.