Pizza Hut is testing a lower-calorie pizza at a number of stores in the Toledo area as the nation’s largest pizza chain looks to freshen its menu and shore up declining sales.

The “Skinny Slice” pizza, which is available now, uses less dough and a lighter dusting of toppings. Customers can choose up to five toppings on each pie.

Pizza Hut’s Web site advertises the pizza as having 300 calories or fewer per slice. The Web site says a plain slice of the chain’s regular hand-tossed pie has 300 calories. A plain slice of its pan pizza has 350 calories.

A similar offering is being tested in West Palm Beach, Fla., that the chain says has 250 calories or fewer per slice.

A manager at Pizza Hut’s Secor Road location said Wednesday he couldn’t comment on the item.

A spokesman for Louisville-based Yum Brands Inc., which owns Pizza Hut, didn’t return a call from The Blade seeking comment.

Pizza Hut is just the latest company to look to Toledoans as it tests new menu items.

Last year, Toledo-area Arby’s restaurants tested a value-style menu that featured chocolate molten lava cake, baked potatoes, and turkey or roast beef sliders. Some of those items stayed, others didn’t make the cut.

Taco Bell has twice used Toledo as a test market in recent years, floating a new breakfast menu in 2007 and the Doritos Locos Taco in 2011. Boston Market tested home delivery in Toledo in 2004.

The latest test by Pizza Hut comes as the chain fights to win back market share. Last year, Pizza Hut sales fell 2 percent at U.S. locations open at least a year. Michigan-based Domino’s, by contrast, saw the figure rise 5.4 percent, while Papa John’s saw sales rise 4 percent in North America.

Marco’s Pizza is also gaining on the long-time pizza leader. The Toledo-based chain has been recognized as the fastest-growing pizza franchise in the United States as it consistently opens 100-plus new locations a year.

Darren Tristano, a restaurant analyst with industry tracker Technomic, noted that Pizza Hut may be suffering in part because it’s the biggest player and has the most to lose at a time when the pizza business overall is seeing moderate growth of about 2 percent to 3 percent a year.

But he also noted that the chain has failed to “evolve its product,” while Papa John’s has played up its quality and Domino’s improved its pizza.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Contact Tyrel Linkhorn at tlinkhorn@theblade.com or 419-724-6134 or on Twitter @BladeAutoWriter.

First Published September 18, 2014, 4:00 a.m.