These North Carolina Pizza Hut Locations Have Gone Back In Time

Is Pizza Hut bringing back the restaurants those of us who are 40 and over remember? It certainly looks that way. Without making much of a fuss over it, the pizza chain has been converting some of its stores into what they're calling “Classics.” Seeing the photos is bringing back a flood of memories for this child of the '70s and '80s.

According to The Retrologist, this all started in 2019 when Pizza Hut revived its 1974 logo and the time traveling trend has grown from there. It appears to be happening mostly at their locations in smaller cities and towns that still have the original buildings. Here's what the "Classic" restaurants feature:

If you remember going to Pizza Hut on a Friday or Saturday night with your family back in the day, how could you not want to relive that experience? There are several of the "Classic" stores in North Carolina. The three closest to Charlotte are:

You can find more locations HERE. I want to celebrate my next birthday at one of these!

Who doesn't love pizza? It doesn't matter if it's thin crust, wood-fired, NY style, or any other form of pizza it's just delicious. Pizza is just one of the foods almost everyone likes. It's a people pleaser, for parties, gamedays, late night doesn't matter. The possibilities are endless from types of crust to different sauces, and toppings. It may just be the perfect food. And October is National Pizza Month. Isn't that every month? It is for me. But to celebrate our friends at Gambling.com conducted research to determine what North Carolina's favorite pizza chain is.

Before we get into that full disclosure I've become a sort of pizza snob. That typical chain delivery pizza just doesn't hit like it used to. I prefer a wood-fired option or a giant slice of NY pizza. I'm not saying I wouldn't eat it if it were in front of me, but I honestly don't remember the last time I chose to get pizza from a well-known delivery chain. Even still I'm sure you have a favorite as do I. But is it the same as the rest of the state? That's the burning question.

To create this ranking Gambling.com's researchers looked at the nation's five most popular chain pizza restaurants. They took two pieces of data. First was the number of locations per 100,000 residents in the state. And the second was the number of Google searches for the chains. Those were weighted and each chain was given an overall score on which they were ranked. Those are the rankings you'll find below. Do these rankings surprise you? Or is your top choice North Carolina's favorite pizza chain? Thanks to our friends at Gambling.com for sharing this research with us. Keep reading to see the top 5 most popular pizza chains in North Carolina.

Locations per 100k people: 1.0

Online searches: 0.5

Final Score: 1.5

This is one I don't think I've tried. I've had pizza from Marco's (if you went to the Siskey Y back in the day you know), but I think it was a local spot and not the chain.

Locations per 100k people: 2.2

Online searches: 1.8

Final weighted score: 4.0

I enjoyed Little Ceasars as a kid but haven't given it a go with the revamp. It seemed to have disappeared for a while and then made a comeback. The price also almost seems too good to be true...

Locations per 100k people: 3.0

Online searches: 2.8

Final weighted score: 5.8

Controversial opinion I'm sure but I've never liked Papa John's. I know plenty of people who it is their favorite. I just don't like the sauce, and never have. Don't come for me.

Locations per 100k people: 5.0

Online searches: 2.8

Final weighted score: 7.8

Dominos takes me back to high school fridays when they'd bring in Domino's Pizza. It's not my favorite but not my least favorite either. As this data suggests it is the most common chain pizza place in NC and I have no issue believing that.

Locations per 100k people: 4.2

Online searches: 5.0

Final weighted score:9.2

And of course, it is the classic Pizza Hut that tops the list. It would probably be my first choice of these options!