Cheez-It and Pizza Hut Invented a Calzone, Called It a ‘Stuffed Cheez-It Pizza’

September 17, 2019 Admin 0 Comments

Plus, Chipotle embraces carne asada, and more news to start your day

Pizza Hut and Cheez-It make college students’ and stoners’ dreams come true with a “stuffed Cheez-It pizza”

Another day, another brand collaboration to bring a new unholy menu item into the world — this time, the “stuffed Cheez-It pizza,” the child of Pizza Hut and Cheez-It. Described as a jumbo, crispy, Cheez-It-flavored square baked and stuffed with cheese or cheese plus pepperoni, served with a side of marinara dipping sauce, this creation — which really sounds more like the definition of a calzone — will be available at Pizza Huts starting today.

Customers are “craving these kinds of mashups between beloved food brands more and more,” a press release from Pizza Hut states, correctly identifying a real trend and as good a reason as any to crank out more menu items like Taco Bell’s Doritos Locos Tacos and KFC’s Cheetos Sandwich. The future of fast food may not look exactly like this stuffed Cheez-It pizza, but it does look like the shape of it (in a way not dissimilar from streetwear): brands teaming up with brands for limited-time “drops” of items designed for the hype machine.

And in other news…

• Here’s a deep dive into a shadowy nonprofit known as the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI), which has been infiltrating government health and nutrition bodies and influencing food policy for decades, all while being funded by industry members with a blatant conflict of interest. [NYT]
• Starting today, carne asada will be available for a limited time at Chipotle stores across the U.S. [CNN]
• Two years after becoming America’s best-selling grocery store pint, Halo Top ice cream has been acquired by the maker of Blue Bunny ice cream. [LA Times]
• The White Claw shortage that has gripped the nation is apparently due to a purposefully limited supply that allows the drink to show up in stores every so often, fly off the shelves, and go out of stock. [CNN]
• Anheuser-Busch is trying again for an Asian IPO. If the brewer succeeds at reaching its $7.6 billion goal, this could be one huge IPO. [WSJ]
• Mattress company Casper is doubling down on the whole “sleep” concept with a new line of CBD gummies. [Fast Company]
• You know that spooky season is upon us when IHOP introduces an Addams Family-themed breakfast menu. [Popsugar]
• Queer Eye’s Fab 5 are appearing on the new season of Big Mouth. [@nickkroll/Twitter]
• Watch a competitive eater house a whole, 4,200-calorie barrel of cheese balls. [Mashable]

• All AM Intel Coverage [E]