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Once, the popular pizza chain was the top choice for parents and children to enjoy its all-you-can-eat buffet, help-yourself greens station, and ice cream with toppings.

However a declining number of diners are visiting the chain currently, and it is reducing half of its UK locations after being rescued from insolvency for the second occasion this year.

“We used to go Pizza Hut when I was a child,” explains a young adult. “It was a tradition, you'd go on a Sunday – make a day of it.” But now, aged 24, she says “it's no longer popular.”

For young customer Martina, certain features Pizza Hut has been famous for since it opened in the UK in the 1970s are now less appealing.

“How they do their buffet and their salad bar, it seems as if they are cutting corners and have lower standards... They offer so much food and you're like ‘How is that possible?’”

As grocery costs have increased significantly, Pizza Hut's unlimited dining format has become quite costly to operate. The same goes for its restaurants, which are being cut from a large number to just over 60.

The company, like many others, has also experienced its costs go up. Earlier this year, labor expenses jumped due to increases in the legal wage floor and an rise in employer national insurance contributions.

Two diners say they used to go at Pizza Hut for a date “occasionally”, but now they get delivery from Domino's and think Pizza Hut is “too expensive”.

Based on your selection, Pizza Hut and Domino's costs are comparable, explains a food expert.

Although Pizza Hut has pickup and delivery through third-party apps, it is missing out to larger chains which specialize to off-premise dining.

“Another pizza company has succeeded in leading the off-premise pizza industry thanks to aggressive marketing and constantly running deals that make shoppers feel like they're saving money, when in reality the original prices are on the higher side,” notes the specialist.

But for these customers it is justified to get their date night brought to their home.

“We definitely eat at home now instead of we eat out,” says the female customer, echoing current figures that show a decline in people going to informal dining spots.

In the warmer season, casual and fast-food restaurants saw a 6% drop in customers compared to the previous year.

Moreover, another rival to restaurant and takeaway pizzas: the cook-at-home oven pizza.

Will Hawkley, global lead for leisure at a major consultancy, explains that not only have supermarkets been providing high-quality ready-to-bake pizzas for years – some are even offering pizza-making appliances.

“Lifestyle changes are also having an impact in the popularity of quick-service brands,” says the expert.

The increased interest of high protein diets has driven sales at chicken shops, while hitting sales of high-carbohydrate options, he continues.

Since people dine out not as often, they may seek out a more premium experience, and Pizza Hut's retro theme with vinyl benches and red and white checked plastic table cloths can feel more dated than premium.

The growth of high-quality pizzerias” over the last several years, for example boutique chains, has “dramatically shifted the consumer view of what good pizza is,” explains the industry commentator.

“A thin, flavorful, gentle crust with a select ingredients, not the overly oily, dense and piled-high pizzas of the past. This, in my view, is what's resulted in Pizza Hut's struggles,” she says.

“Why would anyone spend a high price on a modest, low-quality, underwhelming pizza from a franchise when you can get a stunning, expertly crafted Margherita for under a tenner at one of the many real Italian restaurants around the country?

“It's an easy choice.”

A mobile pizza vendor, who runs Smokey Deez based in Suffolk says: “People haven’t stopped liking pizza – they just want better pizza for their money.”

He says his flexible operation can offer premium pizza at affordable costs, and that Pizza Hut struggled because it could not keep up with changing preferences.

From the perspective of Pizzarova in Bristol, the founder says the industry is broadening but Pizza Hut has not provided anything new.

“You now have individual slices, regional varieties, New Haven-style, sourdough, traditional Italian, rectangular – it's a delightful challenge for a pizza-loving consumer to discover.”

The owner says Pizza Hut “must rebrand” as younger people don't have any emotional connection or attachment to the brand.

Gradually, Pizza Hut's market has been divided and distributed to its more modern, agile competitors. To sustain its high labor and location costs, it would have to charge more – which experts say is difficult at a time when family finances are tightening.

The leadership of Pizza Hut's international markets said the rescue aimed “to protect our customer service and save employment where possible”.

He said its key goal was to maintain service at the open outlets and off-premise points and to assist staff through the restructure.

But with so much money going into maintaining its outlets, it likely can't afford to spend heavily in its takeaway operation because the sector is “complicated and using existing delivery apps comes at a cost”, experts say.

Still, experts suggest, cutting its costs by withdrawing from competitive urban areas could be a effective strategy to adapt.