Pizza Hut Joins Taco Bell, Hershey and Nestle in Going More Natural

This is big. Journalists say three of something makes a trend but this is looking like a food business tsunami towards using more natural, less chemical ingredients in so-called fast and comfort foods. This is definitely significant. That’s right, Taco Bell has been joined by sister fast foodie (they're both owned by Yum Brands) Pizza Hut on a bandwagon pulled by Chipotle Mexican Grill with Starbucks and Arby’s running alongside. What each has determined is that American consumers want transparency and do indeed – right there at the checkout counter – want to know more about where their food comes from, what’s in it, who grew or harvested it and what it’s likely to do to them and their families. It’s astounding to think that it took this long for us to recover from the exuberant excesses of chemical solutions – much the same way the Free Love movement from the 60’s thought that they got a free pass for a lot of sex with the advent of the pill and penicillin. Turns out, if it’s too good to be true it probably isn’t. So the real monetization of better practices gains a major foothold in American and international food business. This is no longer just trying to stem the leak of customers to other forms of more modern, more healthy feeling and earth friendly choices like Lyfe Kitchen or Blossom. This is now a competition well within the fast food and fast casual world to show intent, gain and hold position, reconfirm connection and get on towards a financially sustainable future. And it’s being done in a fairly forthright, open fashion. Yum Brands' Pizza Hut says it’s been working on changes and more natural ingredient recipes for over a year and will implement them by the end of this July, and more by the end of the year. Contrast this with Mc Donalds announcing that it’s going towards antibiotic free chicken by 2016, which is when new regulations require something similar. Talk about leading from behind. So will this make Taco Bell or Pizza Hut or any of these places’ food taste better? If you consider that we seem to start tasting food well before it gets to our mouths, most often through evocative advertising and enhancing memory recall, you bet. And that’s just what these big boys are counting on. Which is a good thing because actual ingredients are only going to get more expensive. Labor costs simply must increase (especially if we want anyone to be able to afford to actually buy these foods) and so a competitive field must be established where the play can mean victory, short and longer term, for everyone.