Do Pizza Hut Buffets Still Exist?

Picture it: It's the early 1990s. Pizza Hut is a part of your suburban-kid routine. You're even motivated to read all summer to earn your free personal pizza through the Book It! program. It's likely your local Pizza Hut even had a buffet then, but is that still true? The chain's buffet was on the rise in the 1980s, offering all-you-can-eat pizza, salad, and breadsticks, washed down by fizzy soda in red plastic cups. By the '90s, the feast included irresistible stuffed-crust pizza, which Pizza Hut may have invented. It's hard to think of a meal more nostalgic than lunch at the Pizza Hut buffet, which leads many of us in the 21st century to wonder if any of these still actually exist.

The short answer is, yes, there are still Pizza Hut buffets out there. In July 2024, the chain announced it was bringing back the dining room model. Although the buffet was not going to be featured in every location, the company didn't provide much more information beyond the initial announcement. Let's be honest, this chain is known for marketing stunts — just a few months after the buffet news, Pizza Hut released a tomato wine. However, the buffet reveal didn't seem to be a temporary pop-up or single-location experiment, as locations have since been reported on social media. Finding one just takes a little research.

Pizza Hut started removing its buffets by the mid-2000s. Consumers began looking for pizza to go for convenience, or, when dining in, wanted to be able to adjust their orders to their own preferences. Add to that the pandemic-fueled cleanliness concerns around buffets, and Pizza Hut joined the many chain restaurant buffets fading into oblivion. However, Pizza Hut buffets still thrived for a time in Australia and continued to do so in the United Kingdom. Perhaps noticing the nostalgic revival of 1990s trends from fashion to television, the chain decided to treat Americans pining for the buffet to a few scattered around the country.

Since Pizza Hut is a franchise operation, it's been up to individual owners to maintain, axe, or reawaken the buffet program. On social media, Pizza Hut buffets have been reported in cities like Los Angeles and Toronto, the Hawaiian island of Oahu, and various states including New Hampshire, Tennessee, Florida, Ohio, Illinois, and Missouri. While many buffet enthusiasts have taken to Reddit to hunt locations down, the safest bet is always to call your nearest Pizza Hut and ask.

The modern Pizza Hut buffet experience sounds just like it was in the good old days, with endless pizza, breadsticks, pastas, and wings. Of course, the chain has since updated things with gluten-free, vegan, and premium-ingredient options. While the initial buffet comeback announcement boasted a $9.99 price, it's worth confirming when you call your local Hut.