Pizza Hut, which has been contending with sluggish sales, is betting that a hot-dog crust will help draw customers.

The pizza chain, which is owned by Yum! Brands, will debut the new Hot Dog Bites Pizza on June 18th at its 6,300 restaurants across the US.

The item features 28 “premium hot dog bites” which are baked into the pizza crust and meant to be pulled off and dipped in mustard.

Greg Creed, Yum's chief executive officer, has said he isn't happy with how the chain has performed since it debuted a new menu last year.

In the most recent quarter, Pizza Hut’s same-store sales were little changed from figures a year earlier.

Mr Creed said the chain hadn’t been effective with its marketing and that it may have lost sight of “mainstream pizza customers” in favour of chasing millennials.

Pizza Hut introduced a pizza made with crust stuffed with hot dogs in 2012, but that item was only available in certain places such as in Thailand, Australia, Canada and the Middle East. The chain has about 1.5 million of the new pies available and will sell them until July 11th – or until supplies last. – (Bloomberg)