r/mildlyinfuriating • u/CurlyWurly61 • May 12 '26

I just wanted a hot dog Such terrible advertisement

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I mean... at a glance its like WOAH 4 can dine for $9.99....

Until you are at the cash and they say " that'll be $45.15"

HUH??

"Oh sorry sir... it feeds 4... 4 people pay $9.99"

Gtfooo

53.0k Upvotes

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17.1k

u/BottomPieceOfBread May 12 '26

2 medium pizzas, breadsticks and a small desert pizza for $40.

Is it just me or is this a terrible deal?

3.3k

u/[deleted] May 12 '26

[deleted]

488

u/flatwoundsounds May 12 '26

Paying the bills? Or bankrolling their corporate overlords?

220

u/Punkpallas May 12 '26

The second one for sure. We gotta make sure the CEO can sustain their cocaine habit and yacht fleet.

90

u/Oprah_Pwnfrey May 12 '26

These people don't have cocaine problems, they crush up billion dollar yachts and snort that.

Cocaine is for the poors(millionaires).

5

u/Orinslayer May 12 '26

I bet the poors vacation on this planet.

2

u/Phyzzx May 12 '26

Before they crush them billionaires are fucking kids

4

u/Oprah_Pwnfrey May 12 '26

I know you are talking about the crushed yachts, but I feel like I need to point out the crushed orphans are merely a by product of the money printing machine. The machine is powered by workers who are used as a cheap source of coal to power it, this causes a lot of orphans which then needs to be dealt with. It would be inhumane to allow that many orphans to exist.

1

u/MinusGovernment May 12 '26

All they need to do for that is to start selling cocaine though

2

u/Katsu_39 May 12 '26

And then when they tank the company, tax payers have to bail them out when the politicians give them multimillion or a billion dollar bailout.

2

u/cardgamesareforplay May 12 '26

Get what ever app they have and suddenly it's 30 percent less.

Every store is like that if you aren't using the app you are funding those if us who do

2

u/[deleted] May 12 '26

[deleted]

36

u/Head_Blueberry_9161 May 12 '26

Yum brands.....the people who own pizza hut, made 1.5 billion in profit last year. Profit. Not gross. Net. They made almost 9 billion in revenue.

1

u/[deleted] May 12 '26

[deleted]

3

u/Head_Blueberry_9161 May 12 '26

Pizza hut made, net, half a billion. Franchises make on average 100-150k a year after margians to yum. That's nationally, so your big Urban's are making quite a bit more.

The only person hurting in this little game of "drain the last drop of blood" is the staff.

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u/[deleted] May 12 '26

[deleted]

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u/Head_Blueberry_9161 May 12 '26

Wow. Ok. So let's start.

The median is 100-150k. Like I said. That's the national average. I said the urban stores would make considerably more, which addresses how we got to the median.

So back to everyone else's point. If you take a million dollars, exploit people to work at your store and only net 150k, that's not a good single business purchase.

Do you think franchisees own a single franchise of anything? No one is buying a pizza hut as a sole source of income.....that's insanely stupid.

So back to my point: yum brands sets the value, multi-partner firms buy the franchise. Neither of them are hurting all that much.

The only people who I have any sympathy is the worker who both requires me to eat there to live, and my tax dollars to help with everything else.

1

u/flatwoundsounds May 12 '26

Median =/= Average

1

u/Head_Blueberry_9161 May 12 '26

Cool. So I kept with median as we were discussing midpoints and it's a more commonly used metric than mean. I've never discussed means when I've discussed finances but sure. You'll probably find a pizza hut somewhere in indianapolis or bosie. Don't know how that's more accurate than averaging across all businesses accounting for difference in average incomes to find a reliable average but.....cool?

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u/HeadToToePatagucci May 12 '26

Franchise model businesses are terribly abusive. We should all gently nudge franchisees away from continuing  that relationship by not giving them any of our money. They can open a real pizza shop or go drive a bus.  I have zero zero sympathy for any on that agreed to open a Pizza Hut this century.

2

u/freebird_88_usa May 12 '26

WE WOULD MY GUY IF A SMALL CHEESE PIZZA WASNT 13.99 ON MY LOCAL PIZZA HOLE AND DOMINOES SELLS 2 MEDIUM FOR 16... FRANCHISES STILL MAKE SURE THEY ARE CHEAPER WE NEED TO BRING TRUTH TO THEIR POOR, CHEAP, BARELLY LEGAL GENETICALLY MODIFIED INGRIDIENTS

1

u/Cimmerian333 May 12 '26

Dominos has a national special where medium 2-topping pizzas are 6.99 apiece. Used to be $5.99 im surprised it’s only gone up once. Too bad their breadsticks cant compete with pizza hut.

If i worked at the Hut i would despise this deceptive advertising.

1

u/freebird_88_usa May 12 '26

I know bud I eat dominoes 5-7 times a year since 2013 and its always been 5.99 until this very year. Only food you can get at 3:30 am on a random hotel after attending a "concert"

1

u/News_Scrounger May 12 '26

Yea this is the problem with shopping local. There's a few spots that do offer enough of a quality improvement over the franchises to ask a little more but a lot of the time it's some idiot asking 20 dollars for a little ceasers level pizza while acting like it's gourmet. 

9

u/maddietendo May 12 '26

Umm, what? They're making plenty of money. This is so incredibly incorrect that it really should be deleted.

-3

u/[deleted] May 12 '26

[deleted]

3

u/maddietendo May 12 '26

I really don't know. I get the PH craving like once every two years. But then my neighborhood pizza place starting doing stuffed crust so I no longer needed the hut.

I really dont know who "loves" Pizza Hut enough to give them all that cash. Maybe college kids?

-3

u/Independent-Paper937 May 12 '26

Since when are we mad at companies for making money? The market sets the price, if people are willing to pay, companies will sell.

Also at a time with supply chain issues caused by horrible government decisions and corruption, maybe Pizza Hut isn’t the problem with prices increasing for literally everything.

2

u/Head_Blueberry_9161 May 12 '26

I get pretty mad when pizza hut, a multi billion dollar organization, requires both my disposable dollars (ordering food) AND my tax dollars (welfare) because they pay their employees trash. They treat them like trash.

I guess I'm more mad we can't put very basic human rights roadblocks in the way of frivilous profit

1

u/Independent-Paper937 May 12 '26

And I completely agree, but are we mad that we won’t put regulations in place, or are we mad that companies are living within current regulations. This is what happens with the free market, companies do the bare minimum purely to maximize profit. People downvoting my original comment might be a bit confused where I am coming from.

Corporations suck, but why would we expect more when we don’t demand it?

39

u/happygocrazee May 12 '26

not caring if they ever return

No. Of course they care if you return. The thing is, people's fury is limited. People talk about boycotts and "They've lost my business!" but for most it's fleeting. It's easy to advertise away some ill-will. A craving brought on by well-crafted imagery and cues will overcome the annoyance at having been ripped off once.

And that's if they even notice. Some people are told they got a deal, they think they got a deal, and that's where the thinking begins and ends.

10

u/[deleted] May 12 '26

[deleted]

4

u/StreetofChimes May 13 '26

My company grudge list is long. You better believe I don't forget. I will pay more rather than buy BP gas. AT&T and Amazon are on the shit list too.

11

u/akhoe May 12 '26

that's mostly true if there isn't viable substitutes available. there are a million places to get pizza besides pizza hut.

3

u/Turtle-Bug May 12 '26

And yet they’re still in business. The majority clearly forgive and forget.

3

u/starwarsfan456123789 May 13 '26

The majority buy the pizzas that are actually a good deal. Usually some version of large pizza for carryout for $10 to $12

2

u/akhoe May 13 '26

"Pizza Hut is currently struggling in the U.S. market, facing declining sales, market share loss to competitors like Domino's, and the closure of approximately 250 underperforming American units in early 2026. While international results are stronger, parent company Yum! Brands is exploring strategic options—including a potential sale—for the chain."

4

u/big_like_a_pickle May 12 '26

Meh. I have refused to buy a Sony product since the root kit fiasco and that was 21 years ago. The bank I had when I was kid screwed me over on an overdraft timing issue probably about 30 years ago and I'll never use them again.

I think your assessment is a bit too cynical. Despite consolidation and the pestilence that is private equity, we still have a lot of choice and can vote with our wallets.

2

u/WollemiaShagger May 12 '26

>The thing is, people's fury is limited

Not mine, Nandos wouldn't let me use their bathroom, unless I bought a meal, in December 2009 and I've never eaten there because of it.

1

u/Embarrassed-Sun5764 May 12 '26

I mean it’s now DoorDash so if your dasher goes the scenic route and delivers 10 items to 10 people and your pizza is cold there is NO recourse. No recovery. You get a cold /fucked up order and you eat it-

0

u/amodestmeerkat May 12 '26

Chick-fil-a once wouldn't let me order off the lunch menu at 10:27am (breakfast service ended at 10:30) at a location where that had never been a problem before. I had been up since 3 and really didn't want breakfast food. I should have stood there and held up the line for 3 minutes, but instead I walked out starting an unintended 8 year boycott of the restaurant chain.

I really didn't mean to stop eating there, but after that, every time I was considering options I just didn't feel interested in going to Chick-fil-a.

43

u/rvralph803 May 12 '26

They are literally just preying on the concept that the purchaser will not refuse to pay out of embarrassment.

I went to Taco Bell to try and feed my kids. Ordered a 12 taco box (non supreme), lady said "$42" and I laughed and said "no thanks" and then drove out.

9

u/doggggod May 12 '26

23.50 by me, are you in a hcol area or does your franchisee just hate customers?

9

u/Blindtothesided May 12 '26

29.95 plus tax here. Got tricked into buying one last week when the drive thru worker told me it’d be cheaper to order it that way rather than ordering 5 hard shell tacos and 5 soft shell tacos separately.

It was not cheaper.

15

u/Immatt55 May 12 '26

$28.66 on doordash in California, where Midwesterners who never visited the state say it's the most expensive. This takes into account doordash and CA upcharges .

Calling horseshit on 45 dollars unless they ordered like 5 drinks with it.

2

u/[deleted] May 12 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/Immatt55 May 12 '26

They did specify there was no jizz of sour cream in the box; but I agree that and guacamole are way way overpriced as an addon anywhere you go.

3

u/[deleted] May 12 '26

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u/rvralph803 May 13 '26

I'm the original commentor: it wasn't edited.

No jizz. No idea why they hell she said $42 dollars, but she seemed high so I was ouuuut.

1

u/Dirmbz May 13 '26

Maybe she said it backwards, they're just under $2 each in my area so a dozen would be $24.

3

u/rvralph803 May 12 '26

Nah man, I just think she was a terrible worker and either confused the number or my order. Either way it wasn't worth my time to try to hash it out with a person who was too high or disinterested to correct the issue.

2

u/poizun85 May 12 '26

Same here…

2

u/Mareith May 12 '26

Same here and I live in a major US city

5

u/Slighted_Inevitable May 12 '26

Did you get them all with double meat or something?

It’s not even that much on DoorDash WITH supreme. And DoorDash is overpriced

4

u/TheInevitableLuigi May 12 '26 edited May 12 '26

There is a Taco Bell in the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle that has to have the highest prices I have ever seen.

I am talking like $10 for a single crunchwrap supreme or cheesy gordita crunch.

A single crunchy taco is $5.

1

u/rvralph803 May 12 '26

Man I have no fucking clue. It's entirely possible she was high and said the number backwards. I was expecting $21 MAX.

1

u/Slighted_Inevitable May 12 '26

Maybe she put in for all Doritos locos supreme? Even that’s like 33 ish?

1

u/rvralph803 May 13 '26

Who can divine the deep lore of Taco Bell pricing when the blessed sacraments have been smoken?

2

u/ScrotalSmorgasbord May 12 '26

You can get 12 beefy 5 layers here for less than that. I don't get where all these "Taco Bell is expensive" people live, Hawaii?

1

u/1001101001010111 May 12 '26

Bro, on the taco bell app if you go to groups it has a "meal for 2" for like 15 bucks. 2 chips, 2 sup tacos, 2 bean burritos, and 2 crunchwaps. Absolute steal.

1

u/ScrotalSmorgasbord May 13 '26

Yeah and I'm a big dude and get those boxes sometimes that cost between $7-$9 and never finish the whole thing and will reheat the extra burrito or whatever for dinner or dinner v2. It's a lot of fuckin food.

2

u/Painboi May 12 '26

With the low amount of meat and barely any cheese they are over charging at the current price…It would be better to grab good ground beef and the seasoning and shells plus cheese…And make awesome filled up tacos…I’m not into the lettuce…Yet I would rather enjoy this over spending 40$ and still being hungry

1

u/rvralph803 May 13 '26

We went home and I cooked.

3

u/manytakes May 12 '26

And the tipping crowd wants 20% on take-out because they have to do a 'quality check', whatever the fuck that means

3

u/PrimaryThis9900 May 12 '26

On mother's day every restaurant in our small town was packed for lunch, with the exception of Pizza Hut. They have already burned people so badly that nobody will go back. As far as I know they only have 2 or 3 people that still work there.

6

u/TheBSQ May 12 '26

The U.S. can really get that via legislation. Maybe via executive order or a regulatory agency rule-making process, but the legislative process makes it too hard for one party to pass laws on their own as its nearly impossible to have a super majority in the senate, and control the house, and the White House at the same time unless you win 3+ elections in a row, and the public is too fickle to do that. Law makers correctly assert that their best chance of re-election is to cater to corporate interests as those are more stable & predictable than the fickle public who doesn’t have the patience to continually vote for a party based on promises they can’t & wont fulfill unless you sustain your u questioning support for them through enough elections for them to get all the necessary people across all the branches of govt that our system requires to pass something into law.

In a parliamentary system, if you win, winners can immediately change laws & govern, and if you don’t do what you promised, you get voted out. 

In our system it’s “thanks for voting for us, but they’ll just filibuster us, so we can’t do anything, but if you continue voting for us for two more elections, then we might have enough votes in the senate to finally do something” and which point the public goes “fuck off with this ‘you just need to vote harder’ BS” and it all fizzles out. 

By design, the U.S. constitution makes it very hard to change stuff, but that doesn’t work when the world changes quickly & people want govt to change to match it. You just end up w/ bad governance. 

We need a new constitution. Unfortunately. The constitution also made it hard to change the constitution! 

2

u/hwwgjfkwrmrcamlrrm May 12 '26

A few years back Pizza Hut mailed me a coupon with a pretty nice deal on a large pizza. Placed my order, drove to the store to pick it up, their registered said my coupon was invalid. We looked at it, confirmed it was real and was not expired. Employee called their manger (who wasn't in the store for some reason), and the manager said he'd give me a different deal that wasn't even close to equivalent to the coupon I was trying to use.

Needless to say, I didn't buy the pizza and never returned. Ten years ago they would have simply done a manual override to honor the coupon and they'd still have me as a customer.

At least the minimum wage employee got a free pizza to eat at the company's expense.

2

u/Ethraelus May 12 '26

I don’t think it’s a terrible deal… it’s still $10 per person.

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u/webdevverman May 12 '26

Opens the door for a better competitor, no? I'm just imagining a pizzeria in New York attempting this and how fast they would go out of business.

Now, if people continue to purchase something like this. Doesn't that mean the advertisement was effective? I hate the notion that "something is bad, we need government intervention". Because eventually, the government will get paid off by these companies. Not to mention that there is overhead to having the government enforce the rules.

1

u/PromotionDry1809 May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26

wait, so by your logic the government should never intervene in something that is bad?

edit: This guy loves child labor!

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u/webdevverman May 13 '26

Define bad. Because if you can't, I sure as hell don't trust the government to make that distinction. 

The current US administration would probably call vaccines bad. Are they? They also think war is not bad. They also think burning fossil fuels is not bad.

I guess my point is we see something mildly infuriating and the first instinct is to give more power to the government. Like, just don't get the pizza. Vote with your wallet. 

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u/PromotionDry1809 May 13 '26

Should the government interfere if a massive typhoon hit new york?

1

u/webdevverman May 13 '26

Perfect example! A typhoon would damage private property (including self). One of the core functions of a government is to protect that. So the answer is yes! 

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u/PromotionDry1809 May 13 '26

I see, so the government can intervene in things that are bad caused by entities that can't pay them off. That makes sense. What about if there was child labor going on?

1

u/webdevverman May 13 '26

I'm afraid you missed my point. If, for example, a company stole your car (illegal repossession) , it's the responsibility of the government to protect you. Does that make sense?

I had a paper route when I was 10. Is that child labor? Regardless, the governments job is to protect private property (including self). If the employer, parent, etc is forcing the child to work then it's the government's duty to protect that child. If the company puts the child in unsafe conditions... Same thing. Gets kind of grey with family businesses (e.g. farms) or even household chores (what age can a child use toilet bowl cleaner) 

1

u/PromotionDry1809 May 13 '26

I don't think I missed your point. Your previous comment explains what it is you think is an example of something bad, which, sure, I'll accept it. You don't think child labor is something bad. Ok. So hypothetically, what if a company was putting a child in unsafe conditions, couldn't they just pay the government off, as in your original comment? What would be the point of intervening in harming a child?

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u/webdevverman May 13 '26

Not sure I said child labor is good. But yes, companies could and I'm sure some do pay off the government to break other protections of property or self. That doesn't mean it's NOT the role of government. So... In this hypothetical. Who is protecting the children if the companies are paying off the government? 

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u/Justarandomguy75a May 12 '26

The add clearly stated $9.99ea

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u/RickGrimes30 May 12 '26

Like I'm single but I wouldn't go for this deal even with people pitching in..

In what world wouldn't a family rather just buy a couple of pre made pizza doughs from your local shop and just throw on any toppings you want?. It's going to be half the price, twice the food, it's made to taste and you don't even need to know how to cook to do it.

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u/Internal_Gur_4268 May 12 '26

Kind of like McDonald's putting mcdouble and mcchicken back on a lower price point, while getting rid of the deals that could get you 2 of them for a cheaper price than what they are now

1

u/red5_SittingBy May 12 '26

Terrible deals masked as good deals

This is the epitome of restaurant food "deals" anymore. I cannot stand fast food commercials. "Try our burger meal for ONLY $10!" are you insane? who is buying this stuff?

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u/MrGupplez May 12 '26

A burger meal for only $10 is sadly a good price at pretty much every fast food restaurant nowadays

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u/Numeno230n May 12 '26

Just to remind everyone how the world works - a company absolutely would not promote/advertise an item unless it was a bad/mediocre deal for the consumer, and is making money for them.

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u/jrtf83 May 12 '26

Our entire economy is just scams now.

1

u/eskay233 May 12 '26

This is the taste of freedom (US branded)

1

u/tpeandjelly727 May 12 '26

The really sad part is in the EU pizzas are authentic and cost way less. We get shafted in the states on every level.

1

u/GreasyPeter May 12 '26

This sort of advertising just ends up enraging more customers than it makes. I think they're hoping you'll go check it out online, realize it's bogus, but still be interested so you'll get some other deal.

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u/Alternative-Draw2997 May 12 '26

“We need daddy government to think for us” if you can’t tell this is a bad deal you’re the one with the problem.

No one is forcing you to eat Pizza Hut if it’s a bad deal then don’t buy it and the market will adjust when their sales drop. Much like frito lay who cut their prices after their sales dropped significantly due to a bag of chips being unaffordable for the average consumer

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u/WatchfulProtecter3 May 12 '26

Perceived value. It’s what they are calling it

1

u/InternationalGas9837 May 12 '26

Even when these places seemingly have a good deal you have to buy multiple to get it like "Large 3 topping for $9.99*when you buy 3 ".

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u/pathetic_optimist May 13 '26

Capitalism in other words.

0

u/Emm_withoutha_L-88 May 12 '26

companies paying the bills by literally ripping people off and not caring if they ever return.

And then they wonder why their business is tanking year after year. They are so big they think they don't need repeat customers.

For those who don't know, restaurants love repeat customers. But this one is owned by the rich executives who think they're above the rest of us.

0

u/Hato_no_Kami May 12 '26

The person who's job it is to make line go up each quarter just cashes in the good will of their long term customers to make up for the drop in sales, then fucks off with their bonus and puts the upward facing line on their resume and repeats. Every company does this, squeezing what return customers they have harder as they lose more and more. "Dropped from 100k members to 60k members? Just charge the 60k members double. Growth in sales this quarter 👍"

0

u/Slighted_Inevitable May 12 '26

I mean… it is truthful. It says each. It’s just not clear

0

u/RuinBlade20 May 12 '26

Literally. Used to work for Pizza Hut. There was a deal for a one topping stuffed crust for $15 or $16. When we also have a one topping large pizza deal for $10 where you can upgrade to a stuffed crust for only $3.