Pizza Hut announced it’s partnering with TikTok food influencer Keith Lee.
According to a press release, the FamiLEE Community Pizza comes with pepperoni and bacon on a hand-tossed crust.
“Bacon and pepperoni are the only toppings I ever get on my pizza — they are my favorite,” said Lee in a separate statement to Food & Wine. “So when I was working with Pizza Hut to make this, it only felt right to make a pizza that I would (and do) eat all the time.”
The limited-time pizza is being paired alongside Pizza Hut’s $12ANY campaign that “allows each famiLEE to customize their toppings and crust to meet their needs at an affordable price,” per the company’s statement.
More details about the promotion
Furthermore, Pizza Hut and Lee are donating $50,000 to Southfield ANT and Oak Hills High School — the high school where Lee and his wife, Ronni, attended, according to Nation’s Restaurant News.
According to the company’s statement, the $12ANY campaign is available only at participating locations. The $12 deal comes with the following conditions:
- The deal is available with an Original Pan, Hand Tossed or Thin ‘N Crispy crust.
- The deal allows up to 10 toppings.
- Additional charges will come if you order extra cheese or an Original Stuffed Crust.
- The deal is not available for the Big New Yorker or Deep Dish pizzas.
The FamiLEE Community Pizza can be ordered either in-store, Pizza Hut’s website or through the Pizza Hut app, per Foodbeast.
“This partnership is all about sharing love through food, bringing communities together, and doing what we truly feel is supposed to be done within our space,” Lee said in the company’s statement. “Pizza Hut has been there during big moments in life with my family, and I’m grateful to be a part of this journey together and I can only be thankful in advance that this pizza will encourage others to do the same.”
Who is Keith Lee?
Lee was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. Before finishing high school, he moved with his family to Las Vegas.
There, he started a professional fighting career following his brother; Lee’s career was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he said in a former interview with Today.
While at home, and as a way to combat his social anxiety, Lee started a TikTok account focusing on family and cooking content. “I started just being myself on camera and it just snowballed until I looked up and I had 50,000 followers … before I knew it, I was at a million,” he told Today.
Since then, Lee has amassed more than 16 million followers on his TikTok account, and has been listed as a Forbes 30 Under 30 Creator and an NAACP Outstanding Social Media Personality winner, per Food & Wine.
Lee, known on TikTok for rating foods on a scale of one to 10, has even been dubbed with the Keith Lee Effect — a phenomenon when a restaurant gets a boost in business after he reviews it, especially if the restaurant’s food received high marks, explained Axios.
- For example: In January 2023, Lee gave a 10 out of 10 review for the Las Vegas pizzeria Frankensons, and that review video garnered more than 50 million views on TikTok. Previously on the verge of closing, the pizzeria then began “selling out night after night” after Lee’s video, reported Axios.