A Pizza Hut restaurant in Southern New Jersey appears to have never left the 90s with its vintage decor and rare offering of the chain’s beloved buffet.
Stepping inside Egg Harbor Township’s Pizza Hut can feel as if you accidentally entered a time machine at the sight of the classic checkered red and white tablecloths, a Pac-Man arcade game, and the $9.99 buffet.
However, the pizza place wasn’t exactly frozen in time. According to NJ.com, the restaurant briefly closed its doors in 2025 for a retro remodeling.
At the beginning of 2026, the Egg Harbor location reopened with its new vintage design, including its classic red plastic cups and Tiffany chandeliers.
But what Pizza Hut lovers might cherish most about the retro location is the buffet priced under $10, available daily from 10.30am to 2.30pm.
The all-you-can-eat offering features pizzas, pasta, breadsticks, and cinnamon sticks.
‘We’re bringing back all the nostalgic Pizza Hut goodness you remember…one slice at a time,’ said PCF Restaurants, an independent franchisee of Pizza Hut Inc., which acquired several locations in 2017.
Customers can expect to see more of the nostalgia-inducing restaurants popping up across the country.
Egg Harbor Township’s Pizza Hut off a retro aesthetic bringing back its classic tablecloths and chandeliers
The Egg Harbor restaurant briefly closed its doors in 2025 for the remodeling before reopening in the beginning of 2026
Tim Sparks, the president of Daland Corporation, another independent franchisee of Pizza Hut Inc., is transforming some of the over 80 pizza shops the company operates back to a retro aesthetic, according to People.
‘Our Classic restaurants are designed to bring back the nostalgic Pizza Hut experience from the 1980s and 1990s,’ Sparks told People.
Sparks Company currently controls 38 locations, but he added that they are evaluating remodeling 12 more.
In an interview with CBS, he spoke further about how the retro design has had a positive effect on business: ‘People come from two and three hours away, and I’m not making that up,’ Sparks said.
‘If we can get them in here as a family, they do tend to put their phones down and actually have conversations and speak with each other.’
Aside from the food and decor, Pizza Hut relaunched its BOOK IT! program, an incentive to get kids to read over the summer by reaching their goals in exchange for pizza.
Does bringing back 90s-style Pizza Huts revive lost magic or is it just clever nostalgia marketing?
The retro pizza place also brought back their red leather booths and even a Pac-Man arcade machine
Customers can expect to see more of the nostalgia-inducing restaurants popping up across the country as other franchisees plan to relaunch retro locations as well
According to the LA Times, in 1985, the year after the program was launched, more than 7 million kids in grades 1 through 6 participated and earned free pizza through reading.
The rebrand appears to be well received by customers, who shared how glad they were to get a taste of nostalgia.
One user wrote: ‘There’s one [retro Pizza Hut] in Virginia with cups and bar and all. I was on vacay and took my son there. We were in our glory! Great father son memory last year!’
Another added: ‘It’s about time . Bring it back the way it was I might actually start going there again.’
A third added: ‘I loved Pizza Hut’s buffets they were great it would be nice to get them back.’
