Pizza Hut's dining experience is unlike most chain pizza joints. While many do have seats where people could eat, Pizza Hut provided a family-friendly experience that you can't really find at many other pizza spots. Unfortunately, the days of eating in at Pizza Hut is coming to an end. Their parent company has announced that they will be shutting down hundreds of dine-in locations across America.
David W. Gibbs, president, chief operating officer and chief financial officer for Yum! Brand that also owns KFC and Taco Bell, confirmed the news to Food Business News that as many as 500 stores will be shutting down in an effort to increase carry-outs and deliveries. “We are leaning in to accelerate the transition of our Pizza Hut U.S. asset base to truly modern delivery/carryout assets," Gibbs said. "This will ultimately strengthen the Pizza Hut business in the U.S. and set it up for a faster long-term growth."
In America, 6,100 Pizza Hut restaurants offer dine-in while another 1,350 are strictly for carry-outs and deliveries.
“During this transition, we expect a temporary deceleration in the pace of new unit development for the Pizza Hut division as continued healthy international unit growth will be partially offset by a short-term decline in the absolute number of U.S. units," he explained. "As a result, our U.S. store count could drop to as low as 7,000 locations over the next 24 months, primarily driven by closures of underperforming dine-in restaurants before rebounding to current levels and above in the future.”