Pizza Hut pretty much is known for its Pan Pizza, its what literally turned it into a national chain..
Pan is a bread like dough, and yes, they do grease the pan and the end product is greasy as you mention... but its also probably about 90% if not more of their overall sales.
They have a thin and crispy as well, which is almost like a cracker crust, not sure how long they have had that, but those are the 2 types of crust they had when I started working there.
During my time there they introduced the “Hand Tossed’ crust, which is more like what you get at most pizza places, the reason for its introduction was this was the time Pizza Hut was getting into the delivery game, and while Pan Pizza was their overwhelming best seller, it also, because of the grease added to the pan to cook it, does not hold up well when placed in a bag and taken about 30 minutes to deliver... So they introduced hand tossed.
Despite these negatives about pan pizza holding up to deliver times, people still wanted and ordered it.. and it is still the overwhelming best selling crust.
I will agree with you, that if you order this type of crust which is what most folks get it will be greasy, but that’s fully a factor of how the crust cooks etc.. if you order hand tossed or thin and crispy you won’t have to deal with the greasiness of the pie... but as I said, the pan crust outsells the others by vast margins, its what literally makes pizza hut pizza hut...
To compare it to traditional pizza crust in terms of its greasiness is just not a fair comparison. Next time try the thin and crispy and or hand tossed if you don’t like the grease, those are a fairer comparison to what other chains offer...For the record Dominos introduced a pan pizza years ago as well or maybe they call it deep dish... don’t know, but it too is greasy as well.
“the pan crust outsells the others by vast margins, its what literally makes pizza hut pizza hut”
And, Pizza Hut being famous for that style to the point of the general public equating the two (they’re not going to rationally analyze the options to the degree you are), interest in that style is declining and taking the brand’s profitability with it. Sure, if I stop and think about it I can realize I can order a “hand tossed” crust with a fraction of the grease ... or, like voters faced with Republicans trying to lure Democrats by shifting their positions leftward, we can vote with our feet and go somewhere specializing in what we want rather than offering it as a paltry also-ran version thereof.
When I can go to Papa Johns or Mellow Mushroom where their feature is what I want, why would I go to Pizza Hut whose feature isn’t?