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Once, Pizza Hut was the favorite for parents and children to enjoy its eat-as-much-as-you-like offering, help-yourself greens station, and self-serve ice-cream.

Yet fewer customers are choosing the brand currently, and it is closing half of its British locations after being acquired following financial trouble for the second instance this calendar year.

It was common to visit Pizza Hut when I was a child,” notes Prudence. “It was a tradition, you'd go on a Sunday – make a day of it.” Today, in her mid-twenties, she says “it's not a thing anymore.”

In the view of young customer Martina, the very elements Pizza Hut has been famous for since it opened in the UK in the seventies are now not-so-hot.

“The manner in which they do their all-you-can-eat and their salad bar, it appears that they are lowering standards and have inferior offerings... They provide so much food and you're like ‘How can they?’”

As ingredient expenses have risen sharply, Pizza Hut's unlimited dining format has become very expensive to run. Similarly, its locations, which are being cut from a large number to 64.

The business, like many others, has also seen its expenses rise. Earlier this year, employee wages rose due to increases in the legal wage floor and an higher rate of employer taxes.

Chris, 36, and Joanne, 29 mention they frequently dined at Pizza Hut for a date “occasionally”, but now they get delivery from Domino's and think Pizza Hut is “not good value”.

According to your selection, Pizza Hut and Domino's costs are comparable, notes a food expert.

While Pizza Hut does offer takeaway and deliveries through delivery platforms, it is losing out to larger chains which solely cater to the delivery sector.

“Another pizza company has taken over the off-premise pizza industry thanks to intensive advertising and constantly running deals that make shoppers feel like they're saving money, when in reality the standard rates are quite high,” notes the specialist.

Yet for the couple it is acceptable to get their evening together delivered to their door.

“We absolutely dine at home now more than we eat out,” explains Joanne, matching latest data that show a drop in people frequenting quick-service eateries.

In the warmer season, quick-service eateries saw a 6% drop in patrons compared to last summer.

There is also one more competitor to pizza from eateries: the cook-at-home oven pizza.

A hospitality expert, global lead for leisure at an advisory group, explains that not only have retailers been providing premium oven-ready pizzas for a long time – some are even selling pizza-making appliances.

“Shifts in habits are also having an impact in the popularity of quick-service brands,” says the analyst.

The increased interest of high protein diets has driven sales at chicken shops, while reducing sales of high-carbohydrate options, he adds.

Because people go out to eat more rarely, they may look for a more upscale outing, and Pizza Hut's American-diner style with comfortable booths and red and white checked plastic table cloths can feel more dated than upmarket.

The rise of high-quality pizzerias” over the last several years, including popular brands, has “completely altered the consumer view of what quality pizza is,” explains the food expert.

“A thin, flavorful, gentle crust with a carefully curated additions, not the excessively rich, thick and crowded pizzas of the past. This, in my view, is what's led to Pizza Hut's struggles,” she says.

“Why would anyone spend a high price on a tiny, mediocre, unsatisfying pizza from a chain when you can get a gorgeous, skillfully prepared traditional pie for a lower price at one of the many real Italian restaurants around the country?

“It's an easy choice.”

A mobile pizza vendor, who owns a small business based in a regional area says: “People haven’t fallen out of love with pizza – they just want higher quality at a fair price.”

He says his flexible operation can offer gourmet pizza at affordable costs, and that Pizza Hut struggled because it could not keep up with new customer habits.

From the perspective of a small pizza brand in a city in southwest England, the founder says the pizza market is expanding but Pizza Hut has failed to offer anything innovative.

“You now have by-the-slice options, London pizza, New Haven-style, fermented dough, traditional Italian, rectangular – it's a wonderful array for a pie fan to discover.”

The owner says Pizza Hut “must rebrand” as newer generations don't have any emotional connection or allegiance to the company.

In recent years, Pizza Hut's customer base has been sliced up and spread to its more modern, agile competitors. To keep up its expensive staffing and restaurants, it would have to charge more – which experts say is difficult at a time when family finances are tightening.

A senior executive of Pizza Hut's overseas branches said the buyout aimed “to ensure our guest experience and retain staff where possible”.

He said its immediate priority was to maintain service at the surviving locations and takeaway hubs and to assist staff through the change.

Yet with so much money going into maintaining its outlets, it likely can't afford to spend heavily in its off-premise division because the market is “complex and using existing delivery apps comes at a cost”, commentators say.

However, it's noted, cutting its costs by exiting crowded locations could be a smart move to adjust.