Why This Chain Has Been Rewarding Kids With Free Pizza For Decades
If you're an '80s or '90s kid, you may have fond memories of the early days of Pizza Hut's BOOK IT! program, which bribed school kids with free pizza to encourage reading. It worked, too — I remember happily strolling into the Hut with my mom on various occasions to claim my little Personal Pan Pizza. Once you reached your reading goal — based on books, pages, or minutes read, or even parents reading to a child, to accommodate all reading levels — your teacher would give you a coupon for your very own personal-sized, one-topping pie. While there are many different types of pizza, "free" was perhaps the very best kind for a small child.
BOOK IT!, founded in 1984, is the longest-running corporate-backed reading incentive initiative in the United States, encouraging literacy in children from sixth grade down to pre-K. The program is still going on today, and it has been expanded to include pizza rewards for kids' summer reading efforts along with their literacy endeavors during the school year. BOOK IT! now allows home-schooled kids and online schools to participate, too. It has also been modernized since those early days of pin-on BOOK IT! buttons and paper pizza coupons scribble-signed by your teacher. Nowadays, the BOOK IT! program includes digital components, such as virtual classroom setups and web-based tracking for kids' reading.
Pizza Hut has given out more than a billion free pizzas
Appropriately, the idea for the BOOK IT! program was reportedly hatched around a restaurant table one night while two Pizza Hut executives were out to dinner with their wives. Company President Arthur Gunther's own son had struggled with reading, and the discussion turned to the notion of using pizza as an incentive to get kids to read more.
Pizza Hut is among the famous fast-food restaurants that got their start in Wichita, Kansas, and the BOOK IT! program was first tested in the company's home state before being rolled out across the country. Gunther met with Kansas educators to discuss the idea, and the BOOK IT! program developed from there. In addition to rewarding individual children for their reading efforts, the initiative also awarded pizza parties to entire classes that completed the program.
BOOK IT! has not been a cheap endeavor. In that first year alone, Pizza Hut spent a reported $2.7 million on printed materials given out to schools to enable participation in the program. Around $50 million worth of free pizza was given away as well.
Over the years, the Hut has given out more than a billion free pizzas — and counting! — to youngsters through the BOOK IT! program. The pizza giant is known for many things — including clever Super Bowl food commercials — but BOOK IT! perhaps surpasses them all, urging millions of kids to improve their reading and gain an appreciation for books.