How Pizza Hut is getting in on the caviar craze

Pizza Hut is getting in on the caviar craze. The chain is launching a Pizza Caviar Bump Box that includes either wings or fries and one personal pan pizza topped with what the brand describes as pizza caviar pearls that taste like pepperoni. (The pearls are pepperoni-flavored water and agar-agar.) The new $20 item seems more like a marketing stunt than a permanent menu addition: The Bump Box will only be available at the Pizza Hut located at 932 8th Avenue in New York from April 10 to April 12 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. while supplies last. Pizza Hut worked with VML, RQ Agency and TracyLocke on the activation. “As a brand that’s always pushing the boundaries of what pizza culture can be, we saw an opportunity to take one of today’s biggest food trends and make it our own,” Melissa Friebe, Pizza Hut’s chief marketing officer, said in a statement. “Pizza Caviar is our way of bringing a touch of indulgence, while staying true to the flavors people love from Pizza Hut.” Interest in caviar has been on the rise thanks to social media, where there are hundreds of videos of creators taking “bumps,” which refers to eating caviar off the back of your hand, including TV personality Bethenny Frankel, wealthy lifestyle creators Becca Bloom and Vidya Gopalan and Danielle Zaslavsky, whose father started Marky’s Caviar. Part of the draw has been the addition of caviar onto more common foods, such as potato chips, french fries and chicken nuggets. Last August, attendees of the US Open could get a box of chicken nuggets with caviar and crème fraîche for $100. Pringles has made several posts pairing caviar with its crisps and previously partnered with The Caviar Co. to make three kits that included Pringles and caviar pairings. The interest in the expensive, salty food has also made its way into more restaurants, including onto dessert menus as crème brûlée topped with caviar or a caviar apple fritter. Even apparel and home goods brand Quince started selling caviar. The Bump Box is the latest experiential marketing stunt by Pizza Hut. Last year, the chain built a phone booth-sized Pizza Hut for one person and delivered “resZAmes”—pizza boxes printed with job applicants’ resumes.

How Pizza Hut is getting in on the caviar craze

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