Pizza Hut Japan Is Making Major Changes To Its Dough. Here's Why
Fast food requires a set formula that any worker can easily follow over and over again. So when a company like Pizza Hut decides to radically alter it, it's worth paying attention. Sora News 24 reported on August 18 that Pizza Hut will introduce a Rice Pizza, which is also known as a Gohan Pizza, to its Japanese menu. Basically, it substitutes the usual pizza dough with rice. Customers can now order a Gohan Pizza My Box, which includes three mini pizzas, fries, and chicken nuggets. The base of the Gohan pizza is made from rice, Gouda, and a sauce.
Entabe adds that there are three styles of pizza boxes on offer. The Japanese set has a rice pizza topped with Yakiniku beef ribs, one with teriyaki chicken, and one with mentaiko mayo soy sauce. The European set features an Iberico pork and basil pizza, a shrimp and lobster sauce pizza, and a Milanese sausage pizza. The American box contains rice pizzas of Garlic Shrimp, Barbecue Pork, and Pepperoni Lover varieties.
Rice makes more economic sense than wheat
There has to be a good reason for Pizza Hut to introduce such a radically different item. Going through 30 types of ingredients, as Sora News 24 claims, is a lot of work for a gimmick. And there is a good reason. Namely, wheat prices are punishingly high. Reuters reported at the beginning of August that global wheat consumption will experience its greatest annual decline in decades as customers have decided to economize. Moreover, wheat prices may even grow higher in the second half of the year as companies have run low on their stocked wheat reserves. Similarly, the Chinese Academy of Sciences predicts that climate change will hurt the international wheat trade in the future (per Phys.org).
So importing wheat to Japan is more difficult. Moreover, fewer people in Japan have been eating rice. In 2018, Nippon reported that the Japanese consumption of rice was half of what was consumed in 1962. Many respondents claimed it was because they wanted a wide variety of food. Between more precarious wheat imports and a domestic rice market that does not have as dominant a hold as it used to, it makes perfect sense for Pizza Hut to source a local and cheaper ingredient.