🍔 The Food That Built America (2019) - Season 7 Episode 1
Taste. Ambition. Innovation. Legacy. In Episode [X], [brief hook: see episode-specific hooks below]. Discover the untold stories of the visionaries, entrepreneurs, and rebels who transformed American food—and in doing so, shaped a nation.
🔹 Episode Highlights:
• [E01 Hook: "A new generation of food pioneers challenges the old guard"]
• [E02 Hook: "When innovation meets tradition: the battles that defined an industry"]
• Dramatic reenactments: bringing history's most flavorful moments to life
• Expert insights: historians, chefs, and business analysts decode the recipes for success
• Signature storytelling: cinematic visuals, compelling narration, and mouthwatering moments
🔹 Series Info:
• Format: Food History Documentary / Business Drama / Educational Series
• Original Network: History Channel / A&E / International Streaming
• Series Launch: 2019 | Season: 7 | Episodes: 1-2 (New Season Premiere)
• Narrator: [Add narrator name if known, e.g., Campbell Scott]
• Focus: Food Entrepreneurs, Industry Innovation, American Culinary History
• Setting: USA – Historic Kitchens, Boardrooms, Factories & Farms
• Language: English (Original Audio) + Subtitles Available
• Runtime: ~42-45 minutes (full) | Clip/Highlight version: ~10-15 min
🎧 Prefer audio? Listen to food history recaps & business podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts.
👉 Enjoying the series? Hit LIKE, SUBSCRIBE, and comment: "Which food entrepreneur's story inspires YOU most? 👇🍔" Turn on notifications 🔔 so you never miss the next chapter!
#TheFoodThatBuiltAmerica #FoodHistory #HistoryChannel #S7E[X] #BusinessDrama #AmericanFood #FoodInnovation #BingeWatch #DocumentarySeries #CulinaryHistory #FoodEmpire #TasteMakers
⚠️ Copyright Disclaimer: This video is shared for promotional, review, and informational purposes only. All rights to "The Food That Built America" belong to History Channel, A&E Networks, and original producers. This upload complies with Fair Use guidelines (Section 107, U.S. Copyright Act). No copyright infringement intended.
Taste. Ambition. Innovation. Legacy. In Episode [X], [brief hook: see episode-specific hooks below]. Discover the untold stories of the visionaries, entrepreneurs, and rebels who transformed American food—and in doing so, shaped a nation.
🔹 Episode Highlights:
• [E01 Hook: "A new generation of food pioneers challenges the old guard"]
• [E02 Hook: "When innovation meets tradition: the battles that defined an industry"]
• Dramatic reenactments: bringing history's most flavorful moments to life
• Expert insights: historians, chefs, and business analysts decode the recipes for success
• Signature storytelling: cinematic visuals, compelling narration, and mouthwatering moments
🔹 Series Info:
• Format: Food History Documentary / Business Drama / Educational Series
• Original Network: History Channel / A&E / International Streaming
• Series Launch: 2019 | Season: 7 | Episodes: 1-2 (New Season Premiere)
• Narrator: [Add narrator name if known, e.g., Campbell Scott]
• Focus: Food Entrepreneurs, Industry Innovation, American Culinary History
• Setting: USA – Historic Kitchens, Boardrooms, Factories & Farms
• Language: English (Original Audio) + Subtitles Available
• Runtime: ~42-45 minutes (full) | Clip/Highlight version: ~10-15 min
🎧 Prefer audio? Listen to food history recaps & business podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts.
👉 Enjoying the series? Hit LIKE, SUBSCRIBE, and comment: "Which food entrepreneur's story inspires YOU most? 👇🍔" Turn on notifications 🔔 so you never miss the next chapter!
#TheFoodThatBuiltAmerica #FoodHistory #HistoryChannel #S7E[X] #BusinessDrama #AmericanFood #FoodInnovation #BingeWatch #DocumentarySeries #CulinaryHistory #FoodEmpire #TasteMakers
⚠️ Copyright Disclaimer: This video is shared for promotional, review, and informational purposes only. All rights to "The Food That Built America" belong to History Channel, A&E Networks, and original producers. This upload complies with Fair Use guidelines (Section 107, U.S. Copyright Act). No copyright infringement intended.
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FunTranscript
00:06it's a 150 billion dollar a year global industry with over 350 slices eaten in america every
00:15second pizza is both an artisanal art form and a crowd-pleasing delicacy love the world over
00:22but it wouldn't be possible without an epic three-way race
00:26pizza hut little caesars and domino's changed the pizza game to become the largest pizza chain
00:33on the planet the reason that we even know pizza in this country is because of the big chains when
00:39a new upstart little caesars challenges the reigning titans we're better than domino's and
00:45pizza hut this is the beginning of the pizza war they'll each have to think outside the box
00:51the pan pizza it was like pizza on steroids by reinventing pizza it's like a mutant pizza
00:59creation as we know it he took leftover product and turn it into something else why don't you try
01:05an order of our new crazy crust it's really a stroke of genius and before the war is over
01:10pizza hut isn't your company anymore one bold decision he's switching to a rival company
01:16it will upend the entire industry and it changes the landscape of pizza forever papa john's and all
01:26of a sudden it goes from domino's and pizza hut to the big four
01:53in 1979 the burgeoning pizza industry has become one of the fastest growing markets in the u.s. food
02:00center at this time there's thousands of pizzerias in the united states many of them are mom and pops
02:07in major cities yet none of them offer much in the way of variety it's not what you imagine today
02:15it's a couple of sizes and that's it it's a thin crust it's got cheese it's got sauce you didn't
02:21walk
02:22in to a pizzeria and have fancy pizza toppings thrown in your face nobody put pineapple on a pizza
02:28there were no breadsticks no wings no crazy bread no dessert sticks there was none of that but there's
02:35this growing collection of chain pizzerias centralizing in the midwest who introduced pizza
02:42to the masses among these midwestern chains are the leader in pizza delivery domino's and the overall
02:51industry leader pizza hut where the co-founder and current president frank carney has recently sold
02:58his 21 year old company to pepsico for over 300 million dollars by 1979 pizza hut had undergone this
03:07huge transformation to suddenly a massive nationwide business
03:16which means frank carney is now beholden to a board to shareholders and to pepsico as a whole
03:22so he is no longer the big cheese he is an employee so now he's in the hot seat as
03:29they're expecting
03:29results frank we do need something in the two years since the sale to pepsico pizza hut sales were
03:37slipping so they had to do something to shake up the business have you thought of adding delivery
03:42service like domino's yeah we tried that once years ago but trust me the headache is not worth it
03:50unlike domino's frank carney wanted to keep pizza hut a sedentary restaurant dining experience and not
03:58focus on delivery that was a no-go for him and perhaps a two-for-one deal like little caesars
04:05little caesars at this point he's laser focused on beating domino's he's not remotely concerned
04:14about this little weird upstart chain little caesars but this regional pizza chain has just hit the
04:21airwaves with their first national ad campaign only little caesars has the famous pizza pizza
04:28pizza pizza pizza and it's about to transform a two-horse race into a three-way battle for
04:35supremacy pizza pizza it means never having to say you're hungry but before little caesars enters the
04:42big time it all started 20 years earlier when just outside of detroit a former baseball player
04:51is chasing a new dream mike illich was a minor league baseball player for the detroit tigers and
04:58when he sustained a career-ending knee injury his major league dreams go up in smoke he had to have
05:05surgery the tigers were interested in keeping him around so now here he is 29 years old he's got a
05:12wife
05:13marion and now three children to support desperate to make ends meet illich is going all in
05:20on an unproven concept when he finished his baseball career he had a short period where he ran a
05:27kitchen at a local bar where he grew to love making pizza he actually taught himself how to begin
05:35illich believes pizza has the potential of being the next big thing up there with hamburgers and hot
05:41dogs so he said i love this i want to make this my mission in life to create it so
05:48he and marion took
05:49their life savings and opened a little pizzeria in garden city and it starts with a name
06:02pizza treats yeah what you don't like it
06:10one day their small pizzeria will grow to over 5 000 locations around the world generate over 4 billion
06:17a year and sell roughly 1 million pizzas every single day but first they need to agree on what
06:28to call it his wife marion wants to incorporate her little nickname for him he's a take charge kind of
06:33guy and he's a short king at five nine so she likes to call him affectionately
06:42little caesar little caesar's pizza treat pizza treat or little caesar's pizza treat neither name
06:51is very ideal on may 8 1959 little caesar's pizza treat opens its doors it was marion at the register
07:03mike at the oven making pizza it was handmade with the best quality ingredients and soft fluffy dough
07:12but the vast majority of americans had never tried pizza there was only one pizza hut and domino's
07:17hadn't even been invented yet hedging their bets mike also includes more familiar items on the menu
07:24they didn't just serve pizzas they had chicken fish and chips so there's something for everybody
07:30little caesar's pizza treat your name another medium pepperoni got it to save money illich does
07:38something no other pizzeria is doing how can i help you can i get a table sorry we're takeout only
07:47in the 1950s fast food restaurants like mcdonald's had takeout but they also had dining areas where
07:54people can sit down to eat food the concept of a takeout only restaurant was basically unheard of
08:02but his belief was i need to keep overhead low and one huge cost is table service tell you what
08:10first order's on us so just take the pie with you and enjoy the home forget it
08:22illich's cost saving measures lead to sluggish sales and by early 1960 he's so desperate for a
08:30lifeline the margins are really tight he seeks advice from a total stranger mike was incredibly
08:39gregarious he could strike up conversations anywhere and one day he starts a conversation
08:45with a completely random individual about his restaurant you'll never get rich running a pizza
08:51shop you need several i can barely afford one you expect me to open several it's called franchising
09:01the franchising model works by a company leasing out its name image and know-how to a franchisee in
09:06exchange for royalties and fees for marketing so by franchising he realizes he can grow a brand
09:13and get paid while doing it we're going to give people good value okay lots of cheese lots of pepperoni
09:22so his business model doesn't just remain selling pizzas it's selling franchises now you're learning
09:29in 1962 mike illich becomes the first person in michigan to start a franchise food chain it's kind
09:37of amazing that little caesar's might never have been a chain if a random stranger hadn't put that idea
09:43in mike illich's head and by 1963 there are eight locations throughout the state pizza quickly became the
09:51restaurant's best seller and as that happens it becomes the hip cool food especially for the youth
09:57culture so they removed fish and chips and chicken from the menu and they started serving
10:05just pizza with the menu streamlined illich takes things one step further once he had narrowed that
10:12focus mike changed the name from little caesar's pizza treat which is a mouthful to say
10:18to just little caesar's with an eye toward going national illich goes all in on franchising
10:25increasing the number of locations in michigan and the neighboring states to over 150 by the end of
10:32the 1970s but with dominoes and pizza hut growing to roughly 300 and 3000 locations respectively illich is
10:42desperately trying to catch up little caesar's what can i get you mike illich is still a fledgling pizza
10:51restaurateur with the idea of having a nationwide chain and he realizes that just having takeout
10:57is not enough of course our pizza is good we're better than dominoes and pizza hut but he needs to
11:03find an angle something that the big guys are not yet doing and a way to garner his own market
11:09share
11:10why don't you come see for yourself first order's on us great i'll see you soon then
11:20who gives away whole pizzas for free
11:25when mike illich is put into a position of competition his immediate reaction is to always be better be bigger
11:34be bolder
11:38and the light bulb goes off and he says to beat the competition i'm going to offer a promotion the
11:46likes
11:46of which no pizza chain has ever done buy one pizza get one free this is a massive gamble
12:00in 1979 mike illich is determined to turn little caesar's into a national chain so he meets with an ad
12:09agency to pitch his unprecedented idea you want to give away an entire pizza with every order exactly
12:18usually you buy one get one free soda something that has easy profit margins to deal with but this
12:23is your main product you're offering a second one for free it's ridiculous mirian show them the box
12:40i know what you're thinking why not just stack two pizza boxes on top of each other mike was excited
12:47about telling his customer how much value they were getting he didn't want to stack the two pizzas on
12:52top of each other because that looks and feels like one pizza i want people to feel like they're
12:57getting an unbelievable deal and i want everyone who sees them walking down the street to notice
13:03so what he does is create a double wide pizza box that in and of itself is kind of crazy
13:10but
13:11illich is convinced he needs to make just a gigantic splash if he wants to go up against these powerhouses
13:16like dominoes and pizza hut i want a slogan something people will remember this is how we go nationwide
13:24the nationwide ad is a massive gamble he's going to spend millions of dollars on a commercial
13:29that's going to air in places where they don't even have a little caesar's within a hundred miles
13:32but i think that speaks to the genius of mike illich because ultimately the commercials were not
13:39designed to reach customers but rather potential franchisees in 1979 little caesar's launches their
13:48first national television campaign featuring their soon-to-be iconic slogan pizza pizza pizza pizza pizza
13:59and in addition to creating the buzzword of the time they also developed the most viral pizza box ever
14:06they also made these funny quirky memorable commercials that just really made the big box look
14:12like fun little caesar's pizza pizza the very large value the pizza pizza was genius he had found that
14:20little thing that would differentiate him from delivery or sit down restaurant and it really shook up the
14:27pizza industry and the number one pizza chain in the country takes notice so much good food for so
14:34little money pizza pizza it means never having to say you're hungry frank your thoughts on little
14:43caesar's i don't think they're really anything to worry about i mean they're a takeout chain right
14:48for the past two years earnings have slipped and with little caesar's very fun advertising campaign
14:53now the board is concerned about pizza hut's ability to maintain its position as number one i think what
14:58we need to focus on is improving the dine-in experience and making sure that our customers get the best
15:05quality pizza they can find according to our surveys customers prefer a pizza with a thicker crust
15:12pizza hut's original menu had two pizza styles they had thin crust and a slightly thicker crust what we
15:19would now just call standard crusts but frank realized that customers wanted a thicker pizza style
15:24so i say let's give the people what they want
15:31this is the future of pizza hut pizza
15:38the pan pizza
15:41what we now know and love is the classic pan pizza that has a thicker crust like chicago deep dish
15:47pizza
15:47but it's much breadier it's not dense and flaky and pastry like it comes out of the kitchen blazing
15:54hot and this pan sizzling there in front of you that's a world of difference from getting a pizza
15:59in a cardboard box and this is revolutionary it will be one of the most popular and most enduring pizzas
16:05of all time you're not going to serve it in that thing are you that's the idea yeah
16:13except they don't get it they don't like it they don't understand it well it's all part of an experience
16:19we don't need to waste our energy on gimmicky promotions our sales say otherwise
16:27frank corney is a successful guy he's run this huge company he's probably thinking what more do i have
16:33to prove i think i know how to run my own company frank pizza that isn't your company anymore
16:45in 1980 just three years after selling pizza hut to pepsico frank carney resigns
16:53clearly frank carney's vision for the company does not align with that of pepsico and he didn't want
16:59to stick around but then pepsico makes an unexpected decision just months after rejecting
17:07carney's new idea pepsico releases the pan pizza nationwide the pan pizza is not just a menu item
17:18it's a spectacle there's almost like a crispy caramelized fried quality to the dote it's like
17:24pizza cake it's like pizza cake it quickly became pizza hut's number one seller and it still is today
17:30the pan pizza helps separate pizza hut even further from the pack you have domino's which is all about
17:37delivery you've got little caesars which is smaller and all about takeout but pizza hut is a restaurant
17:42and a restaurant's job is to provide its customers with an experience not just food so the pan pizza
17:48is exactly that experience ending the chain's three consecutive years of slipping profits by 1981 the
17:56game-changing product boosts pizza hut's annual sales to nearly one billion dollars at a time when thin
18:04crust pizzas are the only pizzas the pan pizza at pizza hut inspires a treasure trove of thicker pizzas
18:13across the country but frank's not pleased the pan pizza this was his baby he knows he deserves full
18:23credit for that product so frank's not done with the pizza business he'll come back and he will alter
18:30the industry yet again
18:36in 1981 little caesars has over 220 locations across the midwest yet mike illich is still struggling
18:45to keep his head above water okay so that's two medium pepperoni their two-for-one pizza pizza deal has
18:52been a runaway success but it's also caused them to cut their profit margins dangerously thin how can he keep
19:00the profits coming in and still run the promotion without tanking the business do you like anything
19:07else so illich is looking for a way to increase profits without increasing costs what do we have
19:19working in a pizza shop you know you're going to end up with extra dough by the end of the
19:23day
19:24this is going to be food waste why don't you try an order of our new side great we'll see
19:31you soon
19:32he thought why not turn this into our advantage
19:40and so in a moment of inspiration
19:46he takes the ingredients he already has and creates this brand new product
19:52made of pizza dough with butter garlic and parmesan cheese on top illich gives his new creation a
19:59clever name now breadsticks are everywhere but crazy bread was the first bread-based side for a pizza
20:07restaurant in america and it's so wild because ultimately you're just eating repurposed pizza dough but
20:14he really paves the way for a whole new dimension to the pizza menu when he adds pizza adjacent sides
20:22much like a hamburger has the accompaniment of french fries little caesar's pizza is now accompanied by
20:28this delicious buttery parmesan covered treat so essentially give people an extra pizza for free
20:37but get them to pay for side dishes meanwhile pizza hut has been hard at work on their own
20:46new menu item to increase profits and stay ahead of the pack after combing through their numbers
20:53the top brass spot a potential target not wasted scraps but wasted time
21:02pizza restaurants are not popular at lunch time because pizzas take longer to bake and they require
21:09multiple people to consume the average fast food chain makes the bulk of their daily revenue
21:14at lunch between 35 and 40 percent at pizza hut lunch orders only account for around 15
21:2215 percent pizza hut has no lunch market so there's millions of dollars that are not being made during
21:30that period of time and so pizza hut pivots to something that addresses the lunch crowd
21:37something that is iconic and adorable and deeply delicious
21:46the personal pan pizza
21:49i think the genius behind the branding of the personal pan pizza is not just that it sounds
21:56better than extra small but also allows people to really have their own choices when they're
22:02ordering it's a little six inch pie you can get the same toppings that you would get on the larger
22:08format pizza but it's not meant to be shared so instead of one family getting one large pizza everybody
22:14can get their own personal pizza priced at a dollar 49 and guaranteed to be ready in just five minutes
22:22pizza hut's lunchtime business quickly jumps by 70 percent it totally upended the thinking about
22:31eating lunch at pizza restaurants and if we're thinking about this like a pizza war this is like pizza hut
22:37gaining an important territory on the battlefields
22:41pizza hut's latest victory isn't just bad news for little caesar's but for america's number two pizza
22:48chain domino's since launching nearly 25 years ago tom monahan's chain has gone from a single storefront
22:56to over 2 000 locations nationwide all offering something pizza hut and little caesar's don't
23:04these are supposed to go out 40 minutes ago come on domino's distinguishes itself by being incredibly
23:09simple good to go all right they focus on delivery and speed but then tom monahan hears that pizza
23:18hut's promising this personal pan pizza in five minutes or less but you have to go to pizza hut to
23:25order one
23:27so he realizes domino's needs to create their own little gimmick tom monahan knows that the average
23:35delivery time is around 24 minutes so he decides to do something unprecedented in the history of pizza
23:44domino's guaranteed delivery in 30 minutes or less in 1984 domino's revamps their successful delivery
23:52service by offering a 30-minute guarantee or your pizza is free it's absolutely brilliant because they're
23:59not giving away that many free pizzas that attracts a ton of attention and really gets them going on the
24:05national scene it was almost unsustainable but it captured the imagination it gamified pizza for
24:12heaven's sake suddenly you weren't just ordering a pizza it was a race against time by the end of 1985
24:19domino's hits record sales of over 1 billion dollars across their 2800 locations the 30-minute guarantee
24:27made domino's not just the fastest growing pizza restaurant in the united states it also made it
24:32the fastest growing restaurant chain in history expanding his lucrative empire monahan becomes the
24:39first pizza chain owner to buy a different type of franchise for 53 million dollars monahan buys the
24:48detroit tigers baseball team it was one of the highest amounts paid for a franchise at that time
24:55meanwhile by the mid-1980s little caesar's national ad campaign is finally paying off potential
25:02franchisees just love this pizza concept with outlandish boxes and crazy commercials and so
25:10little caesar's is just booming they're growing so incredibly fast they're adding store after store
25:17by 1986 there are 1 000 locations across 38 states and all of a sudden it goes from two
25:24big pizza players to the big three and these three companies are all in their own lanes little caesar's
25:31is a takeout business domino's focuses on delivery and pizza hut is a sit-down experience but that
25:39delicate balance is about to be shattered in 1986 pizza hut decides that it's going to go head-to-head
25:46with domino's in the delivery space and they have an ad campaign that shows two guys playing domino's
25:52and they actually say maybe some people just don't like domino's anymore guess not this is a real
25:57insult to them so this really kicks off the pizza wars where these different companies all start eyeing
26:05each other's businesses as a way for them to expand and get ahead by 1991 pizza hut's delivery business
26:13becomes a 1.2 billion dollar a year cash cow allowing them to control over 20 percent of the pizza
26:21delivery
26:22market and cut into domino's bottom line with pizza hut introducing delivery the 30 minute guarantee
26:29becomes more important than ever to succeed in this market that's now getting pretty crowded while less
26:35than 10 percent of domino's deliveries are late those free pizzas cost domino's nearly 80 million
26:42dollars a year and this is forcing managers to pressure their drivers to make those deliveries on
26:47time that causes the drivers to speed to drive recklessly to make that 30 minute cutoff and unfortunately
26:55an accident occurs domino's is found liable for nearly 80 million dollars in damages
27:03and more lawsuits follow after other delivery driver accidents domino's got sued like 200 times so
27:10following those lawsuits monahan and domino's decided to shut down the 30 minute guarantee
27:18forced to cancel their guarantee after less than a decade sales slip two years in a row and by 1992
27:26domino's must close hundreds of locations instead of domino's being at the top of the food
27:32chain now domino's is competing with little caesars for the number two spot so tom monahan realizes
27:40domino's is in trouble and he is scrambling to try to stay afloat and financially viable that's when
27:47monahan throws a hail mary sir he's here send him in
28:02tom monahan is going to make an offer that mike illich can't refuse
28:12in the early 1990s after suffering store closures slipping profits and mounting lawsuits the founder
28:20of domino's reaches out to his newest rival little caesar's mike illich tom monahan he's struggling with
28:28domino's and desperate for a life raft
28:33what's your offer highest the millennia goes 85 that's my best and final offer he comes up with a
28:42proposition for mike illich that he can't refuse
28:49done 85 million he decides to sell illich
28:55the detroit tigers the very team for whose minor league franchise mike illich used to play
29:02mike illich loved baseball it coursed through his veins and so owning the detroit tigers would bring him
29:09back to his roots if you can't play for them why don't you own them tom monahan thinks this team
29:16has
29:16been a distraction he wants to focus on pizza and rebuilding domino's oh by the way domino's would be
29:25offering takeout as an option not just delivery when you have these two pizza guys with these big
29:34personalities i want you to hear from me first there's no doubt that they're going to eventually
29:40run up against one another within weeks domino's adds carryout counters to its 5 000 plus locations
29:50little caesar's punches back by launching a new delivery service and by 1994 there's a new number two
29:58pizza chain little caesar's leaving tom monahan desperate for a new way to fight back everything
30:09in the pizza wars has been a direct response to a move by one of the competitors one adds take
30:14out the
30:15other one heads take out one adds delivery the other one adds delivery but tom monahan realizes the only
30:22i'm going to really get one over on little caesar's and on pizza hut is if i do something wholly
30:28original
30:28that they are not doing what are these chicken wings they're smothered in a hot and tangy sauce
30:45wings are a regional delicacy from upstate new york the idea of getting them in pizza places
30:52was not the norm in the mid 90s they were definitely not common in fact the wings were sort of
30:59the
30:59scraps of the chicken it's got a kick
31:09i think these two go great with pizza
31:13in 1994 domino's launches a little known delicacy as a new side item
31:21buffalo wings
31:24at this time buffalo wild wings had only about 15 locations in the midwest so believe it or not
31:31most people in america tasted their first ever buffalo wing courtesy of domino's and it becomes a
31:39nationwide taste sensation after adding wings to their menu domino's total revenue increases roughly 300
31:46million dollars closing the gap on industry leader pizza hut who is starting to feel the heat
31:56do you have a typical order mushrooms and pepperoni but an ambitious new pizza hut employee
32:04named patty scheidmer is hoping to find the company's next big innovation she's a recent graduate with
32:12a degree in home economics she joins the pizza hut team as a food scientist even though she's a low
32:18-level
32:18member of the team she has got grand ambitions for pizza hut and she decides for inspiration to run focus
32:25groups desperate to make a name for herself scheidmer has spent weeks searching for ways to reinvigorate
32:32pizza sales do you typically have leftovers no not really
32:39except for the pizza bones i'll feed them to my dog
32:44in one of these focus groups patty hears one of the attendees use the term pizza bones which are the
32:50crusts that you leave on the plate you don't eat the crust
32:56and suddenly patty realizes there's an opportunity here what if the crust was as delicious and as
33:03desirable as the pizza itself scheidmer doesn't know it but this innocent comment will lead to a
33:11billion-dollar idea and reimagine how we eat pizza
33:21in the mid-1990s pizza huts patty scheidmer has discovered a possible key to unlocking pizza's full
33:29potential she realizes in focus groups that people are really leaving the crust behind one guy actually
33:37calls the crust pizza bones so how do you prevent people from leaving pizza bones on the plate
33:43well you make the crust taste better and the main thing people love about pizza is the melty cheese
33:53so of course a perfect way to make the crust taste better is by stuffing it with cheese
34:01sheidmer begins experimenting with a variety of cheeses at the time this was completely unprecedented
34:09this is like putting a side dish inside the pizza but it's not as simple as just putting
34:15cheese into the edge of a dough not all cheeses are the same they have different amounts of moisture
34:21and if it's too little moisture the cheese won't melt properly if it's too much moisture
34:29you'll have a buildup of steam that'll rip through the crust and then you get molten cheese pouring
34:34out the edge finally she tests a relatively new product called string cheese string cheese had become
34:49popular in the late 1980s and was available at most grocery stores in the country and its diameter is
34:55exactly the right size for pushing into a pizza crust
35:04the beauty of the string cheese product is that it's a mozzarella but unlike most mozzarella
35:10it's been stretched a little longer and so the casein proteins tend to have stronger bonds
35:22so as you pull apart the crusts you get this perfectly viscous cheese pull which is so visual and it
35:31goes
35:31right along with that idea of having an experience with the food and not just making it be something
35:36that fills your belly on march 26 1995 pizza hut's stuffed crust pizza hits their roughly 8 000 locations
35:48nationwide people loved stuffed crust pizza when it came out it was something that hadn't been seen
35:54in pizza before the crust was always just a glorified handle the moment you make the crust edible pizza becomes
36:02a
36:02very different type of food it means that you can eat the crust first you can dip it in the
36:09sauce
36:09and the idea of taking a often discarded bit of the pizza and making it arguably one of the most
36:17desirable parts of it this was revolutionary within months the new product accounts for nearly 30 percent
36:24of all pizza hut sales and in its first year alone stuffed crust pizza becomes a one billion dollar product
36:36but not everyone is thrilled with pizza hut's most recent success notably their former president frank
36:44carney looking at what was happening with his baby pizza hut frank carney was not too pleased at their
36:50decision to go toward mass appeal in the face of this mom-and-pop restaurant that he started since
36:56leaving his company over a decade ago carney has struggled to find his next big project after he sells
37:04off his pizza company to pepsi he goes into venture capital and loses his shirt so he decides he's possibly
37:12not a real good investment guy but he knows his pizza he still had energy new ideas new concepts that
37:19he
37:19wanted to put into pizza and it's around this time that he discovers a young pizza chain coming out of
37:25indiana that had been growing in popularity carney doesn't know it but his disdain for his former
37:31company will spur his unexpected return to the pizza industry and it won't be with pizza hut
37:45in the mid-1990s the co-founder of pizza hut is feeling stuck since leaving pizza hut in 1980 frank
37:53carney used his finances to become venture capitalist but didn't work out so well for him but he couldn't
38:00go back to pizza hut they had moved on without him that is good so instead of starting a new
38:17brand in
38:17the way that he did in the late 1950s he decides to latch on to another chain pizza company that
38:23had been
38:24growing in popularity that is really good and i speak of course of papa john's papa john's is a small
38:36pizza chain that was founded in indiana in 1984. there are only a few hundred stores more of a regional
38:42local company not a national player and so compared to the big three there's not a lot going on there
38:50papa john's papa john's but frank carney thinks that papa john's can go bigger he thinks that they
38:56have what it takes to be a contender in the national pizza industry so carney takes one last shot at
39:02investing and opens his own papa john's franchise which proves to be a hit by 1997 he owns over 60
39:11and
39:11tells everyone about it in his own unique way frank decides to announce to the world that he's working
39:18with papa john's by producing a commercial in which he declares to the board of pizza hut that he's
39:25changing teams sorry guys i found a better pizza it was an incredibly audacious move you have one of the
39:35founders of pizza hut switching to a rival company and not just any rival company not the second place
39:42or third place but like a young upstart company this is a big deal it's a massive shake-up it's
39:49a
39:49mic drop moment pizza hut needless to say is not pleased by these ads so they file a lawsuit against
39:55papa john's papa john's loves this this is the best press they could ever get especially when the court rules
40:02in favor of papa john's it really backfired on pizza hut because this is the thing that puts papa john's
40:09on
40:09the map and sky rackets them into the number four biggest pizza chain in the united states no longer
40:16is there just a big three now it's a big four and frank carney ends up with 133 franchises for
40:28papa john's
40:29and becomes a major player in the company frank carney's impact on the world of pizza in this country is
40:36undeniable he's co-founder of the largest pizza chain in the world pizza hut and he's also the
40:42guy who helped make papa john's the number four pizza chain that's incredible
40:49but carney's success would not have been possible without the rivals that pushed him to new heights
40:56like tom monahan who retires in 1998 after selling all but a small steak of domino's for a whopping 1
41:04.1
41:04billion billion dollars tom monahan is all about innovation and his fingerprint on the pizza industry
41:12will be felt forever and mike and marion illich who transformed little caesar's into the world's
41:19biggest carryout pizza chain with over 5 000 locations across the globe mike illich is a man who rose from
41:29nothing who took a small investment with his wife and turned it into a billion dollar business and now
41:36he's become one of the big pizza kings today the big four pizza chains remain the same with gross annual
41:45revenue placing papa john's in fourth little caesar's in third only now pizza hut is number two just behind
41:53dominos at number one on the surface these companies were competing with each other but what they were
41:59actually doing was they legitimized the idea of pizza to mainstream america the chains still control
42:08about half of the pizza business in america so as much as i am a mom-and-pop pizza guy
42:13i love that the
42:14chain pizzerias exist there is this beautiful sort of pizza pie circle of life where all of the pizza
42:22communities are working together even though they are competing and the spoils of the pizza war they come to us
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