The Biggest Changes You'll See At Pizza Chains In 2025

If there's any food that's universally popular, it would have to be pizza. Everyone loves pizza, and to respond to that demand, pizza became a lucrative business in the United States, with dozens of national and regional chains connecting consumers with various variations of crust, tomato sauce, cheese, and toppings served up in a cardboard box. Every company, the best and worst chain pizza restaurants, seeks to get a piece of the financial pie and earn customer loyalty by differentiating themselves from the competition. For some, it's touting their pizzas' low cost and perceived value; others boast of their superior ingredients; still more sell specially made bespoke pizzas or something from the collection of America's regional pizza styles. Though, there are still many pizza styles that have come and gone.

In other words, pizza is a buyer's market. That breeds an environment of near constant competition, innovation, and evolution, particularly among the bigger brands. Heading into 2025, many of the country's most prominent, successful, and beloved pizza chains are instituting change. Whether that's to the way they do business, take orders, or make the pizzas, those moves will definitely be noticed and felt by customers who have grown used to a certain way of doing things. Here are all the changes cooking in 2025 at America's top pizza joints.

As one of the biggest chains in all of fast food, and serving the paradigm of pizza, Pizza Hut has never been shy about introducing emerging technology to get its products into its customers' hands as quickly and efficiently as possible. Pizza Hut introduced PizzaNet, a rough draft of now common online ordering systems, way back in 1994, and in 2025, it will try out the next generation of pizza purchasing machinery.

In December 2024, Pizza Hut opened a new concept restaurant in the Dallas suburb of Plano that's purpose-built to utilize some high-tech ideas that it's rolled out in 80 countries outside of the United States. If successful, more and more Pizza Huts in 2025 and beyond will start to resemble the Plano prototype. Among its features is a new way of dining at Pizza Hut, a drive-through only system called Hut N' Go, where customers can choose from a limited selection of popular pizzas and other items that are pre-cooked and ready to take away. This Pizza Hut also features self-serve cabinets for to-go customers, as well as touchscreen enabled ordering stations. Also, the kitchen has been revamped so as to be more environmentally conscious, with the installation of energy-saving lighting and pizza ovens, fryers that automatically lift and shut off, and improved ventilation systems.

As of 2024 Little Caesars has been in business for 65 years. Selling humble pizzas at low prices out of small and efficiently run restaurants, as well as a number of now discontinued items we sorely miss, business has been very good for the company. It's currently the third-ranked pizza chain in the U.S. based on sales volume, per Statista, and all those factors place Little Caesars in a good place to grow even more.

Late in 2024, Little Caesars' corporate office announced plans to quickly build and open about two dozen new locations in 2025 and into 2026. Contracts with operators and franchisees means a lot more Little Caesars spots in major American cities, including Los Angeles, Charlotte, Albuquerque, Baltimore, and Dallas. Expansion plans are particularly aggressive for New York City, where three restaurants have just opened up, and more will follow in the Brooklyn borough. One franchisee group plans to open another 10 in the metropolitan area by 2026.

Chicago contributes two distinct styles to the world of pizza: the casserole-like deep dish pizza, and thin-crust, square-cut tavern pizza. The latter and less famous option is starting to become more known outside of Chicagoland, and that's thanks in large part to Fresh Brothers Pizza. In 2008, the first location of the tavern pizza-focused chain (which also bakes the equally nationally novel Detroit-style pies and sells vegan and gluten-free options) opened in populous southern California, and by the end of 2024, it had more than two dozen pizzerias situated around the Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego areas. It's also one of the chains that never uses frozen dough.

In 2025, Fresh Brothers Pizza is primed to grow even more. In November 2024, restaurant consortium Craveworthy purchased the entire Fresh Brothers operation, making it the 15th eatery in its portfolio. One of its initial and most aggressive plans for the pizza chain: expansion. Craveworthy will open up the previously company-owned-and-operated Fresh Brothers Pizza to franchisees, meaning tavern-style pizza will make its way to more locations around the U.S. in 2025 and beyond.

Far more famous for its arcades, video game banks, and animatronic rock bands, Chuck E. Cheese is also a legitimate pizza chain, serving up pies and related foods to kids and their parents during their breaks between engaging in loud electronic entertainments or at birthday parties. Chuck E. Cheese clearly knows what sets it apart from the competition, and it's not its perfunctory cuisine — it's the attractions, and that's where the chain's future lies.

By late 2024, Chuck E. Cheese had tested out a new kids' play area called Adventure Zone in a handful of its stores in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. That feature will be installed in Chuck E. Cheese locations across the U.S. throughout 2025. As a more physically active counterpart to its largely sedentary-encouraging line of video and arcade games, the Adventure Zone includes an obstacle course called the Ninja Run, net-encased trampoline areas for kids standing 56 inches tall and under, bouncy houses, and zip lines.

Beginning back in 1974, the Atlanta-based Mellow Mushroom has served up stone-baked pizza with plenty of hippie and stoner culture on the side. A relic from the waning days of the hippie era, it has since grown into one of the most beloved and acclaimed pizza chains in the United States. As business has grown, so too has Mellow Mushroom's need to innovate to handle its increasing load of orders.

In late 2024, Mellow Mushroom announced that it would partner with QSR Automations to overhaul its ordering process and how its kitchens receive tickets. It's a completely computerized paper free system. At point of sale kiosks running the ConnectSmart Kitchen system, employees will enter in orders and they'll be received in the back of the house instantly and displayed on monitors that update in real time, eliminating the need for printers and imperfect paper tickets. The aim here is to better organize Mellow Mushroom's busy kitchens in 2025, and to decrease the chances of mistakes.

After a single shop on Nantucket Island in Massachusetts opened in 2015, within seven years there were 17 Oath Pizza locations in the northeastern U.S. and in California, selling grilled, thin-crust pizzas made with environmentally sustainable ingredients. After reaching that peak, Oath quickly fell apart. Seven restaurants closed in 2023, and in late 2024, Oath declared bankruptcy, claiming half a million dollars in assets and $50 million in debts. In 2025, there just won't be very many Oath Pizza locations for customers to get one of its specialty pies, and those are in jeopardy. The company is liquidating and only earning income from three locations: one each in southern California, outside Seattle, and Wellesley, Massachusetts.

Another modestly sized pizza chain faces similar problems as it likely fades away. Fired Pie started up in Arizona in 2013 and was part of the fast food phenomenon of individually made pizzas prepared to order to the customers' specifications and then cooked ultra-quickly in a speedy oven. The fad faded when the coronavirus interrupted restaurant dining habits, and by November 2024, Fired Pie had filed for bankruptcy protections, owing $10 million but citing $1 million in assets. When it declared bankruptcy, Fired Pie boasted 14 locations, but just two months later that number had dropped to 11.

In the fall of 2023, Domino's introduced its "Emergency Pizza" concept. If customers signed up for the chain's Domino's Rewards loyalty program and used the company's online portal or app even nominally, they could earn a completely free pizza. Ads for the promotion humorously and evocatively depicted the need for a pizza during minor crises, like a power failure or after a cooking disaster. The plan to bring in repeat customers to Domino's worked, and the pizza chain added millions of names to Domino's Rewards. In 2024, Domino's aggressively pushed the Emergency Pizza via cross-promotions with Amazon, Twitch, Netflix's "Squid Game," fantasy football programs, and the video game "Fortnite."

In 2025, Domino's will stage even more high-profile promotions with the promise of easily obtained free pizza, particularly online. "Over 85% of our sales are on e-commerce, and that's a place that we have always invested," chief marketing officer Kate Trumbull told Marketing Dive. "You're going to see more exciting innovation from us in that space, too."

Up until 2025, MOD Pizza operated with a loose pricing format. No matter how few or how many toppings guests chose on their pizza — made to order by staff in front of customers — the product would be the same price, the only cost difference coming with size. MOD Pizza will move away from that structure, which promised a lot of value to diners who preferred to load up their pizza with as many meats and vegetables as possible. In late 2024, and set for thorough implementation in 2025, MOD's menu board is a three-tiered system. Cheese-only pizzas, pizzas with one topping, and those with two to endless toppings will be priced differently — the more toppings, the higher the price tag.

MOD is clearly looking for ways to save money or to become more financially solvent. In 2024, the chain nearly shut down entirely when it faced bankruptcy, only to be saved from oblivion after a purchase by Elite Restaurant Group. The chain is presenting the move as a way to help customers who don't like a lot of stuff on their pizza save cash. "With a clearer, more navigable menu, guests can personalize their orders in four easy steps," MOD Pizza Vice President of Marketing Lyndsey Patel told QSR. "MOD has always offered an incredible array of toppings, always-fresh ingredients and the freedom to choose, and now guests can do that at a value-packed price."