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So they didn't end up winning the restaurant wars after all.
They only won that in the non US version. Here in the US it was Taco Bell
Guys guys relax
Taco Bell and Pizza Hut are both owned by the same corporate conglomerate that owns Pepsi, KFC, and every other fast food chain that only serves Pepsi.
The reference is to a old action movie called Demolition Man. In the movie there was only one restaurant that survived the franchise wars. In the US it was Taco Bell and in Europe it was Pizza hut.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demolition_Man_(film)#Filming
You can also read up on the Three Seashells.
You don't know how to use the three shells, admit it
I'm not telling you. You can figure it out yourself.
TIL
(European here, obviously)
Pepsi sold them off a long time ago.
No that was Taco Bell.
Both owned by Yum! Foods Inc, oddly enough. It's like the Marines winning a war against the Coast Guard lol.
Yeah the full and complete story of the joke in this comment chain:
In 1993 there was a somewhat offbeat slightly Sci-Fi action movie called Demolition Man starring Sylvester Stallone and Sandra Bullock. Stallone plays a cop from the then future dystopian year of 1996 being frozen for several decades only to emerge into a late 21st century future where the entire world is rated G, the police have to be told what a murder is.
In one humorous aside/extremely blatant product placement, Stallone's character is invited to a fancy dinner at Taco Bell. Making small talk with Bullock's character on the way, he mentions that he feels strange being taken out to a fast food restaurant, and Bullock's character says that Taco Bell "won the franchise wars" and so now ALL restaurants are Taco Bell. Cue the cast arriving at a fancy four-star restaurant that serves plates of artfully drizzled sauce with a futuristic Taco Bell sign out front.
That's the original version that Americans are familiar with, at least. In 1993, there were effectively no Taco Bell restaurants in the UK (There were two; both at RAF bases that had attached USAF presences, and the restaurant was restricted to base personnel) so the joke/product placement was lost on the British public. I don't know if they altered it in theaters (or if the movie got a theatrical release in the UK at all) but for television broadcast in the UK, the scene had its dialog redubbed to change the joke to Pizza Hut, a sibling brand at the time under PepsiCo's fast food division. Which is why you will see people referencing the movie swear the joke was Pizza Hut rather than Taco Bell: Because in their region it was.