Pizza Land

[yurgn29]

My dad always took as to the Pizza Land chain of pizza restaurants as he claimed Pizza Hut were rubbish! I remember they had green signs and I always had Hawaiian deep crust.

Anyone else reckon they were better than Pizza Hut?

[Richard1978]

Re: Pizza Land

I remember going in 1 or 2 but can't remember if they were any better or worse.

They seemed to vanish by the mid 1990s, the one in Stockport kept going under another name for a year or 2.

[sixtyten]

Re: Pizza Land

Personally I prefered Pizzaland. Used to do a great deal which was Pizza, jacket spud & coleslaw..yum

horrid green outfit worn by waitresses though

[stuckinthe80's]

Re: Pizza Land

I used to love pizza land. There was one in Durham and a big one near monument in Newcastle. Ate in both regularly. I still miss them now!

[Neverforgetsim]

Re: Pizza Land

Personally I prefered Pizzaland. Used to do a great deal which was Pizza, jacket spud & coleslaw..yum

horrid green outfit worn by waitresses though

I worked at Pizzaland Southampton, Winchester and then Guildford from 1991 to 1997 when they were bought out by Whitbread. They closed some of the Pizzaland restaurants straight away and changed them into Pizza Hut or Bella Pasta as they where the competition.

Pizzaland relied heavily on their 1p vouchers, which was buy one pizza get one for a penny, the same applied to starters and desserts. Then if you used all three courses you got a bottle of wine for 1p as well.

You are right about the uniform, green with gold/yellow writing 'Pizzaland' which I wore as a waiter and also worked in the kitchen as a chef and head chef, before moving into supervisor, where I got to wear a nice reddy/purple colour top which was also terrible and very American for a British company.

They tried to withdraw the penny vouchers and then nobody came to the place, which showed that their business strategy was flawed, as the restaurants used to give out vouchers to customers that were already in the place eating!!! This was of course a desperate measure to get repeat business, but instead it just meant there was a squeeze on food costs and labour costs. The service got worse and the food got worse.

The dish you talk about was the Pizza Platter. A small pizza cut in half at each end of the plate with a potato and coleslaw in the middle.

I used like the potato skins and nachos.

There were still a few pizzalands around until just a few years back in the Uk and they were still going in the Middle East. But they seem to have all gone now.

I was looking to see who had the rights of the Piszaland name and branding as I wanted to try and open a restaurant in my local area, but I did not get a reply from Whitbread.

[Richard1978]

Re: Pizza Land

I'm guessing the Stockport branch was sold off as there was a Pizza Hut not far away.

I still can't remember what it became, but it didn't last long & the unit was closed (with all the tables in situ) for a few years until it reopened as a card shop.

Manchester had one, but I can't remember where it was.

[George 1978]

Re: Pizza Land

I knew someone who was a waitress at Pizzaland, and later became manageress of the same store. She told me that Pizza Hut took them over in the mid 1990s?

[Twocky61]

Re: Pizza Land

I was working voluntarily with Mencap. They came down here to the local static caravan holiday park where they had three holiday caravan's

We had a night out at Tower Park leisure complex

I phoned the cinema pre our visit & scrounged child tickets for our holiday makers and free tickets for us carers

I then phoned Pizza Land & asked them would they give us a discount on a party of twelve

They refused. In the end BK gave us a 20% on our entire order

Pizza Land lost out on that

[big kid]

Re: Pizza Land

i've never ate in pizzaland, pizza hut or any other pizza place. why spend over the odds on a pizza when you can get a good one from the local supermarket ???

[Twocky61]

Re: Pizza Land

My sentiments exactly Big Kid

[Richard1978]

Re: Pizza Land

In the mid 1980s I don't think frozen pizzas were quite as common as they are now, & when it became cool to be into Italian things in the early 1990s they were the sort of place to be seen eating out at.

I admit I rarely have pizza as a takeaway these days, unless my local Dominoes has an offer on.

[stud1al]

Re: Pizza Land

Most pizzas you buy these days are tasteless.Not like the pizzas my mother makes(3 inches thick.Not wafer thin with Pepperoni you can almost see through.

By the way, i called a pizza joint about a week ago and asked for a pepperoni pizza.He told me it'd take about 30 minutes.I told hi-in my best Italian accent
"If i don't get it by then I send a da boys round"

[Twocky61]

Re: Pizza Land

One pizza takeaway I have seen here in the UK sell 24" pizza's