Slow Burn - One Year: 1990 | 1. Pizzastroika
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3.9 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 22 November 2023
⏱️ 58 minutes
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Summary
Pizza Hut’s adventure in the Soviet Union was unlike any restaurant opening before or since. It involved a fleet of submarines, a very special pizza topped with tuna and salmon, and a casual dining spot on a mission to change the world.
This episode was written by Kelly Jones and Josh Levin, One Year’s editorial director. One Year’s senior producer is Evan Chung.
This episode was produced by Kelly Jones and Evan Chung, with additional production by Olivia Briley.
It was edited by Joel Meyer and Derek John, Slate’s executive producer of narrative podcasts. Merritt Jacob is our senior technical director.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey there one year listeners before we start the show I want to let you know about a story coming up a little later |
| 0:05.5 | It's from one of our partners SAP is your business reaching an exciting turning point are you ready to seize the moment for growth? When you're facing |
| 0:14.7 | uncertainty, SAP can help you be ready for anything that happens next. To learn |
| 0:20.1 | more, head to SAP.com slash be ready, and stick around to hear how a nationwide bakery |
| 0:26.8 | seized the moment. |
| 0:31.0 | Rita Skimmehorn was born and raised in Miskuda, Illinois. It was a small town, without a lot going on. |
| 0:38.0 | Growing up in the 1970s, there was one spot the everyone hung out. |
| 0:43.0 | After football games, after dances, |
| 0:45.0 | it was the place to be. |
| 0:47.0 | There's a lot of good names and Pizza Hut. |
| 0:50.0 | There's a lot of good things under our roof. |
| 0:54.0 | Pizza Hut was the place to go. |
| 0:57.0 | This was before pizza delivery was really a big thing. |
| 1:01.0 | Pizza Hut was a Dine In restaurant with its famous red roof and red plastic |
| 1:06.2 | cups for sodas. Red checkered tablecloths and a red light that hung over the table. |
| 1:12.0 | Rita would make a Pizza Hut pilgrimage every Saturday. |
| 1:15.0 | She'd financed that weekly habit by helping to clean her friend's brother's apartment. |
| 1:20.0 | Which, it was disgusting. There was dishes that had mold on it and we had to scrape that off. |
| 1:26.0 | We pick up his clothes and he would pay us five dollars. So my friend Denise and I would then walk from the apartment to Pizza Hut with our $5 in our pocket |
| 1:36.7 | and we could get a small pizza and two small sodas and still have like, you know, 35 cents left for a tip. What did you order? Small |
| 1:44.8 | fitting crispy pepperoni. Same thing every week. Let yourself go to Pizza Hut |
| 1:50.9 | but you look at that pizza. For Rita, Pizza Hut. But you look at that pizza. |
... |
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