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In the past, the popular pizza chain was the favorite for families and friends to enjoy its unlimited dining experience, endless salad selection, and ice cream with toppings.

Yet not as many customers are visiting the chain nowadays, and it is shutting down 50% of its UK restaurants after being acquired following financial trouble for the second instance this year.

I remember going Pizza Hut when I was a child,” says a young adult. “It was a tradition, you'd go on a Sunday – make a day of it.” Today, aged 24, she says “it's no longer popular.”

For young customer Martina, some of the very things Pizza Hut has been famous for since it started in the UK in the 1970s are now less appealing.

“The manner in which they do their buffet and their salad bar, it feels like they are lowering standards and have inferior offerings... They offer so much food and you're like ‘How is that possible?’”

Because food prices have increased significantly, Pizza Hut's buffet-style service has become increasingly pricey to maintain. As have its locations, which are being reduced from over 130 to just over 60.

The chain, in common with competitors, has also experienced its costs go up. This spring, employee wages jumped due to rises in minimum wages and an higher rate of employer taxes.

Chris, 36, and Joanne, 29 say they frequently dined at Pizza Hut for a date “occasionally”, but now they choose a rival chain and think Pizza Hut is “not good value”.

Based on your choices, Pizza Hut and Domino's costs are comparable, notes a food expert.

Although Pizza Hut provides off-premise options through third-party apps, it is missing out to major competitors which specialize to the delivery sector.

“Domino's has managed to dominate the delivery market thanks to intensive advertising and ongoing discounts that make shoppers feel like they're saving money, when in reality the base costs are relatively expensive,” notes the expert.

However for the couple it is justified to get their date night brought to their home.

“We predominantly have meals at home now instead of we eat out,” says Joanne, matching recent statistics that show a decline in people visiting quick-service eateries.

Over the summer, casual and fast-food restaurants saw a 6% drop in customers compared to the previous year.

Additionally, one more competitor to pizza from eateries: the supermarket pizza.

An industry leader, global lead for leisure at an advisory group, explains that not only have retailers been offering good-standard oven-ready pizzas for a long time – some are even selling countertop ovens.

“Evolving preferences are also contributing in the performance of casual eateries,” comments the expert.

The growing trend of low-carb regimens has boosted sales at chicken shops, while reducing sales of carb-heavy pizza, he continues.

Because people go out to eat not as often, they may prefer a more high-quality meal, and Pizza Hut's classic look with comfortable booths and nostalgic table settings can feel more dated than upmarket.

The rise of artisanal pizza places” over the last several years, including new entrants, has “dramatically shifted the consumer view of what good pizza is,” explains the food expert.

“A light, fresh, easy-to-digest product with a few choice toppings, not the excessively rich, thick and crowded pizzas of the past. That, I think, is what's resulted in Pizza Hut's downfall,” she says.

“What person would spend nearly eighteen pounds on a small, substandard, disappointing pizza from a franchise when you can get a stunning, expertly crafted Margherita for less than ten pounds at one of the many real Italian restaurants around the country?

“It's a no-brainer.”

A mobile pizza vendor, who runs a pizza van based in Suffolk explains: “The issue isn’t that fallen out of love with pizza – they just want better pizza for their money.”

He says his flexible operation can offer high-quality pie at reasonable rates, and that Pizza Hut had difficulty because it could not keep up with new customer habits.

According to Pizzarova in Bristol, the proprietor says the sector is diversifying but Pizza Hut has not provided anything fresh.

“Currently available are slice concepts, London pizza, new haven, sourdough, wood-fired, deep-dish – it's a heavenly minefield for a pie fan to explore.”

He says Pizza Hut “should transform” as newer generations don't have any sense of nostalgia or loyalty to the company.

Gradually, Pizza Hut's market has been sliced up and allocated to its more modern, agile rivals. To sustain its high labor and location costs, it would have to raise prices – which experts say is difficult at a time when personal spending are shrinking.

The leadership of Pizza Hut's international markets said the rescue aimed “to protect our guest experience and save employment where possible”.

He said its immediate priority was to keep running at the open outlets and off-premise points and to support colleagues through the transition.

However with so much money going into running its restaurants, it likely can't afford to invest too much in its off-premise division because the market is “complex and working with existing third-party platforms comes at a price”, analysts say.

But, he adds, reducing expenses by exiting oversaturated towns and city centres could be a effective strategy to adapt.