Pizza Hut in Pakistan ditches all-you-can-eat Ramadan offer to curb 'unrestrained gluttony' - Telegraph
By Rob Crilly, Islamabad 07/08/2012
Pizza Hut has withdrawn its all-you-
can eat Ramadan offer in Pakistan
prompting howls of fury from
thousands of hungry Muslim families
used to breaking their fast with plate
after plate of deep pan or thin crust.
Instead the chain said it wants to
reduce "gluttony" by limiting
customers to a single regular pizza in
its Ramadan Fiesta offer.
In previous years Pizza Hut restaurants
would be packed for the evening meal
of Iftar, as diners starving from a day
of fasting would fill their bellies with
pizza after pizza for as little as £7 – a
figure industry analysts said was unsustainable.
Furious fast food fans have taken to
social media to complain at the new,
cheaper deal, which is still advertised
as an "all-you-can" offer. "Pathetic and a misleading deal.
It's
only one regular pizza with bottomless
Pepsi, not all you can eat," said one
post on Pizza Hut Pakistan's Facebook
page.
Imran Khan, a student and regular
customer at a branch in Karachi, said:
"The place was always packed in the
evening. For a lot of people it had
become a Ramadan tradition so this
change is very sad."
Marya Khan, of Pizza Hut Pakistan, said
the offer was more in keeping with the
spirit of the holy month of Ramadan. "The former all-you-can-eat format
served as an unrestrained invitation to
gluttony and waste, colliding with the
very spirit of Ramadan," she said. "For those who do not consider Iftar
deal as a means of just gorging after
sunset, then the new Ramadan Fiesta
offered by Pizza Hut is a well-balanced
and valuable deal to enjoy finest pizza
at a value price."
Pizza Hut in Pakistan was one of many
fast food restaurants to have benefited
from a move away from the traditional
Iftar meal of spiced fruit salad,
chickpeas and dates.
As an alternative, many people are
turning to Chinese buffets or burger
joints although pakoras – vegetable or
chicken fritters - remain the most
popular way to break the Ramadan
fast, according to a recent survey by Gallup Pakistan.