The pizza chain is always working to bring greater relevance to its brand, whether through new product releases like the new Big Pizza Sliders, or to pique the interests of smart communicators steeped in social business to help them better articulate that relevance.

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Last year, around the Super Bowl, the company sold a Big Dipper Pizza, a 2-foot-long pizza cut into 24 strips that could be torn off and dipped.

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Lines weren't a problem at the branded food stands like Big Mario's Pizza and Noah's Famous Rolled Pretzels.

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"It's that oven that made pizza by the slice a big deal, " Mr. Wiener says.

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At Pizza Hut, his team dreamed up the stuffed crust pizza and the 2-foot-square Big Foot, cut into 21 slices.

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Last year, recognizing that prepared foods were a big hit and lucrative, the chain introduced a line of pizza pockets and doughnut holes.

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In fact, Speiser said, the digital edge has become key for the Big Three in attempting to boost their share of the U.S. pizza business beyond the 54 percent they now hold collectively.

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