Posted on 11/04/2025 6:56:07 AM PST by Red Badger
Key Points
Yum Brands will explore strategic options for Pizza Hut, which has struggled in recent years.
Potential outcomes could include an outright divestiture, selling a stake in the chain or a joint venture.
The chain’s share of the U.S. pizza market has shrunk from 22.6% in 2019 to 18.7% in 2024, according to Barclays.
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Yum Brands on Tuesday announced it will explore strategic options for Pizza Hut.
“The Pizza Hut team has been working hard to address business and category challenges; however, Pizza Hut’s performance indicates the need to take additional action to help the brand realize its full value, which may be better executed outside of Yum! Brands,” Yum CEO Chris Turner said in a statement.
The company has not set a deadline or definitive timetable for the review process. While Yum did not specify what the review’s “range of strategic options” include, potential outcomes could be an outright divestiture, a joint venture or the sale of a stake in the chain.
“We do think the business can be positioned for even greater success in the future,” Turner said on the company’s earnings conference call. “In some markets, there may be a multi-year effort that is required to reposition it as the leading pizza brand in those markets, and it’s possible that those efforts may best be done under a different structure, potentially under outside ownership.”
Pizza Hut has been a part of a triumvirate with KFC and Taco Bell for decades, dating back to when PepsiCo still owned the fast-food chains. The beverage giant spun off the restaurants in 1997, christening the new company Tricon Global, later renamed to Yum.
Tuesday’s announcement caps years of struggle for Pizza Hut.
On Tuesday, Yum reported that the chain’s same-store sales fell 1% during the third quarter, fueled by a 6% drop in its home market. During the same quarter, Taco Bell and KFC reported same-store sales growth of 7% and 3%, respectively.
Before the pandemic, Pizza Hut tried to shrug off its reputation as a dine-in venue and reposition itself as an option for pizza delivery and carryout in the U.S. When Covid-19 lockdowns shuttered restaurants, the chain saw its sales skyrocket, like the rest of its pizza industry. But once restrictions loosened, so-called pizza fatigue settled in, leading to another sales slump.
And now, with consumers dining out less often, Pizza Hut is facing increased competition for a smaller set of diners. The chain’s share of the U.S. pizza market has shrunk from 22.6% in 2019 to 18.7% in 2024, ceding customers to rival Domino’s Pizza , according to Barclays.
In the wake of the pullback in consumer spending, other restaurant companies have recently shed challenged parts of their businesses in an effort to improve their balance sheets.
Starbucks on Monday announced it is selling a majority stake in its embattled China business and will form a joint venture with Boyu Capital. Last month, Jack in the Box divested Del Taco for $115 million, well short of the $575 million it paid for the chain less than four years ago. And Krispy Kreme sold its remaining stake in Insomnia Cookies this summer to focus on growing its U.S. business profitably.
I grew up in Wichita, Pizza Hut was all we had. well Pizza Inn for a while, those were gone by 1980 iirc, but that was it. We had Angelo’s if we wanted something different for pizza. I was 18 maybe 19 when little ceasars first opened up at 21st and rock.
Bring back the Priazzo
So enjoyable to go to with the whole family. Fresh pizza served right at the table.
You have to go to mom and pop Italian places now if you are lucky enough to have them near you to get a similar experience. But Pizza Hut, despite being a chain, used to provide the same kind of quality.
Those days are long gone.
I l oved Pizza Slut when I was in college - the 70s. We were college students and would go there once in a while and have pizza, soda and tell stories. We’d get enough pizza to have leftovers. The pizza was good. Not top of the line, but well worth eating.
I don’t think I’ve set foot in one since 1995. They had gone so far downhill by then that I gave up. I don’t know what they could do to get me to try again. It would take returning to some degree of quality and making sure I heard about them returning to...good pizza!
I think the brand is dead. If someone asked me if I’d want to meet them at Pizza Hut and spend some time catching up? I’d assume a space alien had taken over my friend.
They went downhill after they started closing restaurants and went to a takeout and express model. There’s very few restaurants left.
Most of the standalone Pizza Huts are gone..they are mostly take out/delivery storefronts in strip malls.
Also frozen pizza quality has improved greatly. You have brands like Screamin’ Sicilian and Home Run Inn with better ingredients, you can customize them to your desire. And they are much cheaper than take out/delivery pizzas.
THE WORST PIZZA I EVER HAD....
Customers would rather patronize the local Italian restaurant in their town.
So Pizza Hut needs to emulate Domino's with their takeout model.
And yeah, they need to improve their pizza. It sucks now.
Maybe 20 years ago. But they've been bad for a while.
There was something about eating Pan Pizza at the restaurant.
A foodie friend explained it to me and it gives insight into why delivery Pizza Hut is failing while the sit down restaurants are still hanging in there (those that corporate didn’t shut down).
It seems there is butter/fat in Pan Pizza dough. In the restaurant they serve the pizza in the pans it was cooked in. Those thick, hot pans keep the pizza crust hot, and the butter/fat hot as well. This makes for a tasty, crispy crust. When they take that same pizza and shove it in a cardboard box, the butter/fat in the crust begins to immediately cool and the crust gets greasy and soggy.
When your flagship pizza doesn’t taste as good as it does in the restaurant, and you’ve closed most of your restaurants, you are in trouble.
He also pointed out that they obviously know this because they put every OTHER kind of pizza on sale, but charge extra for the Pan Pizza. The other kinds of pizza travel better.
They charge more for the pan, because there is more dough.
There was NO butter in the pan pizza I cooked in the early 80’s, but yes, plenty of oil squirted into the pan, and in the dough recipe. Besides flavor, the original small and medium pans did not have teflon, so the pizza would get stuck to the pan. I think the large may have had teflon, but we used three squirts of oil anyway.
COVID took out most of the buffets. I contend that there is still a market for the lunch pizza buffet.
Godfather’s was the place man.
Now, I like Marco’s Pizza.
I had one not too long ago. Maybe a year. It was pretty good.
The problem with pizza, anywhere, it’s dang expensive. A large pie is pushing $50 now.
That is true, but sometimes I want the diversity of a buffet to have slices of different combos.
-PJ
Damn. How big of a pizza are you getting? 😎
My home made pizza:
You will need:
1 large onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
6 oz can tomato paste
28 oz can crushed tomato sauce
¼ cup Merlot wine
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
½ tsp marjoram
½ tsp thyme
½ tsp oregano
1-1/2 tsp basil
¼ tsp sage
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 very small pinch of cinnamon
1 TBS Concord grape jelly
1 carrot, peeled
White sugar to taste
Olive oil for cooking garlic and onions
Method:
1. Chop the carrot and put in with half of the tomato sauce, in a food processor or blender, and puree until smooth.
2. Mince onion and cook in olive oil until golden brown in a sauce pan. Do this on a low enough heat to keep this browning process under control to keep from burning. Add minced garlic and cook briefly before adding the other half of the tomato sauce. The tomato sauce can be used to stop the browning process of the onion at the perfect stage of browning. Note: never cook garlic until it turns brown. This causes the garlic to get bitter.
3. Add the tomato paste, the rest of the tomato sauce from the food processor, and all of the ingredients. Simmer on low, stirring `every ten minutes. Be careful not to cause the sauce to splatter due to excessive heat. When sauce is thick, add sugar to taste. Let cool, then put in a storage container for the refrigerator. This sauce can be stored in the freezer for six months.
Pizza Dough from a Bread Maker:
You will need:
3 cups flour
1-1/4 cups water
2 tsp salt
2 TBS butter
2 tsp bread machine yeast
Method:
1. Put bread maker on 1st rise setting.
2. When cycle is complete, take dough out and spread out on a pizza pan. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spreading dough out on the pizza pan will take a little time because fresh dough has an elasticity that likes to return to its original shape. With a little punching and poking, the dough will form to the pan.
3. Without putting any ingredients on the pizza crust, put the pan in the 425 degree oven and cook the dough for 4 minutes. This precooks the dough so that the topping does not cause the dough to get gummy. You do not have a professional pizza oven and this step is necessary. The dough will have a stiff consistency when taken out. At this time you can put your toppings on the pizza crust.
4. First, spread a thin layer of sauce over the crust. Then, spread a layer of mozzarella cheese. Next, put you favorite toppings: pepperoni, red onion, olives, thin sliced tomato, mushrooms, anchovies, etc. Finally, put a thin layer of mozzarella cheese over your toppings.
5. Put your pizza in the 425 degree oven for 14 minutes. Check for done-ness. Add 5 more minutes if the topping appears watery.
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