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Pizza Hut raises price on new pasta meals
August 29th, 2008, 6:00 am · 5 Comments · posted by Nancy Luna, Staff Writer
Pizza Hut added a new flavor this week to its popular, value-oriented Tuscani Pasta line: Bacon Mac and Cheese. The cheesy corkscrew pasta dish is served with crumbled bacon on top. (click on photo to enlarge)
While it sounds tasty, the first thing I noticed was the price. The meal, as well as the other two original flavors, are now $12.99, instead of $11.99. The $1 increase comes nearly five months after Pizza Hut introduced the dishes April 1.
A buck is a buck these days, so I asked Pizza Hut to explain. Here’s what spokesman Chris Fuller told me via email:
“The slight increase is because of rising food costs. More importantly, $12.99 to feed a family of four with a restaurant quality meal remains one of the best deals around. The success of the product in the last few months has proven that families believe this is a great value.”
Do you agree? Is $12.99 for this takeout meal still a bargain?
Read about Cheap Chic Meals in Orange County.
Want to get the latest updates on menu changes at your favorite chains? Check out my special New on the Menu section.
Related stories:
- Pizza Hut changes name to Pasta Hut?
- Tuscani Pasta dishes by Pizza Hut break sales record in first month
- Domino’s and Pizza Hut continue smack talk
- Bad economy? Not for Zpizza. Local pizza chain will raise prices, expand units
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Nancy, I don’t this is really a bargain. Pasta is cheap. If I really try, I think I can make these dishes at home for 1/2 the price and have a lot more leftovers. I think i would try this pasta at around the $10 and $11 range. They are reallyl pushing it at $13,
Not only are they raising prices, they charge for delivery and expect a tip.
Like Mike said above, We can make twice as much for half the price at home. I will be sticking with the $1 menu and eating at home.
It’s Mac and Cheese with bacon, for heaven’s sake! I’d rather set aside time to cook it at home.
Like that teen husband said: “All I ask is microwave dinner once in a while….we are not billionaires.
I’m sorry that food businesses are in a pinch and need to up prices to increase their profit margin. These are tough times. And yet, I can’t truly sympathsize because pizza and pasta ingredients are among the cheapest of ingredients for the restaurant industry. The mark-up is incredible, and pizza joints are money-makers in any type of economy.
My first priority is to my family’s budget. While delivery food is convenient, it is rarely a bargain. I need to decide when the cost of this convenience is worth the price. Sure my family loves pizza and pasta, but I can’t justify the cost. Menu price plus delivery charge, tax and tip?The ingredients are so cheap at the store that I can whip up several pizzas and pasta casseroles to freeze for future use for the same price of one delivered meal. The Pizza Hut pasta dish says it will feed four but although the pan looks large, it is shallow. It may feed four small kids if you round out the meal with plenty of salad and veggies, but it is not a complete meal for four by any means.
Too bad that most people are too frazzled with hectic schedules to cook. They are at the mercy of fast food/delivery food businesses who provide cheap, poor nutrition at high cost. The $1 menu, while cheap, has few good choices. Resort to it sparingly.
I tried the two original flavors at the Pizza Hut lunch buffet twice over the last three months. The alfredo one had no taste. The meat marinara one had a little taste from the meat, but was so bland, I wouldn’t get it again. I don’t plan on trying the new bacon mac n’ cheese.
The P’zones would feed more people than the pasta dishes would, and are much cheaper. But, I don’t know how they taste now, but they were fine on their original concept run.