Up to 300 Pizza Hut restaurants will be closed, most serving in locations unsuitable for transportation and delivery, at a time when millions of people are sheltering and eating at home.
Franchisee NPC International said Monday in documents filed in bankruptcy court that it had agreed with Pizza Hut to close hundreds of locations. The company Leawood, Kansas, filed for bankruptcy protection last month.
Pizza sales exploded during the pandemic. Dominoes, the nation’s largest pizza chain, reported a 30% spike in quarterly profits last month. On Monday, the company said it plans to rent more than 20,000 people dealing with increasing assignments.
Other restaurant chains have also been on a tenancy at a time when U.S. unemployment is more than 10%. Rival pizza maker Papa John’s is also recruiting thousands of new workers, while McDonald’s said in June it needed about 260,000 employees to man its locations over the summer.
NPC has 1,225 Pizza Huts and 385 Wendy’s restaurants in 27 states. There are currently 7,000 Pizza Hut restaurants in the US
In its submission, NPC said that closing stores that are not designed for pick-up or delivery will allow it to invest in smaller stores that can better process online orders.
In May, U.S. Hut’s transportation and delivery sales reached an eight-year high, according to Yum Brands, the Louisville, Kentucky restaurant giant that also owns KFC and Taco Bell.
But U.S. system-wide sales of Pizza Hut grew just 1% in the period April-June. Domino’s Pizza, which has smaller retail-focused stores, has posted a 20% jump in U.S. sales.
Dominoes said orders are growing during the pandemic as Americans continue to hunt at home. The company’s revenue continued to climb, even as the economy slumped, reaching $ 920 million in the second quarter and topping Wall Street forecasts.
Yum Brands said in a prepared statement that the stores that were closed down underperformed others owned by NPCs, and that their closure would strengthen NPC’s remaining portfolio.
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