Yum Brands to review strategic options for Pizza Hut, opening the door to a sale

CNBC ^ | November 04, 2025 | Amelia Lucas

[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.

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TOPICS: Business/Economy; Food; Health/Medicine; Society
KEYWORDS: investing

[Uncle Miltie]

Why does Pizza come from a Hut?

Worse, why would you want Pita from a Pit?

[Hyman Roth]

I remember when Pizza Hut used to be good. Vaguely. Because that was a long time ago.

[Red Badger]

1960’s....................

[Dr. Sivana]

Without the dine in portion, Pizza Hut will never reclaim its former dominance. Dominos, Papa Johns, Little Caesars, don’t really have serious dine in, and Pizza Hut will not shake Dominos reputation for faster delivery, and Pizza Huts cheapening of product will not help against Papa Johnsx Little Caesars remains the cheap option.

[Red Badger]

Haven’t had Pizza Hut for many decades. Our go-to is Little Caesar’s right down the street from us! Before them it was Godfather’s..............

[PGR88]

I rarely eat fast food, or consume America’s most famous food brands

And because of that, when I do have them, I can notice the steady reduction in quality (IMHO) which I believe comes from constantly chasing lower-cost substitute ingredients, as well as automation, which comes from constant inflation in our economy, high debt, and the corporate need for specific returns.

For example, I find Hershey, Mars and Nestle chocolate completely inedible. Several articles I have read, describing how high cocoa costs have caused massive substitution of cocoa with non-cocoa fats and ingredients over recent years, have confirmed this suspicion.

[tumblindice]

Yum

Yummy, yummy, yummy. 🎶
I got love in my tummy and I feel like a-lovin’ you
Love, you’re such a sweet thing, good enough to eat thing
And it’s just a-what I’m gonna do🎵

You have been cursed with the Ohio Express Yummy song,
said tune to remain in your head for the remainder of the day.

[Red Badger]

Aldi’s chocolate bars are superior to all of them and cheaper!...................

[Flaming Conservative]

Pizza Hut has awful pizza, but my husband loves it because he grew up in Wichita, from where it originated. I grew up in Northern Illinois, where there were dozens of pizzarias run by real Italians, who made outstanding pizza. It’s not easy to get authentic pizza in northeast Oklahoma. Hideaway Pizza is fair to middling, and I’ve heard there’s one decent place in Tulsa, but for the most part, people in Oklahoma have no idea what real pizza even tastes like. I can make a really good pizza at home, but my husband still prefers Pizza Hut. The sauce is key, and theirs sucks.

[rainee]

Only way I’d ever eat Pizza Hut is if original pan recipe from 1970’s.

[Tommy Revolts]

Right.

If Pizza Hut went back to their vintage pizza it would be a hit. Customers would
keep coming back.

Dominos, Papa Johns, and Little Caesars are so bad.

[Antihero101607]

I both remember, and miss the dine in. There are a few around me that still look like they have it, but they’re too far away to stop in for it. The one closest to me is delivery and carryout only, and they’re disappointing. I do miss a medium supreme thin crust, with a side order of bread sticks.

[Red Badger]

They should have stuck with making pizza. All that other stuff is distracting from their main mission................

[Dr. Sivana]

There are a few around me that still look like they have it, but they’re too far away to stop in for it.

Some of the ones that have dine-in are like a down sized Taco Bell. Seats are hard, lights too bright.

I worked at Pizza Hut in the early '80s, when the dough was made from scratch (I still remember the recipes pretty much). Then they went to a Bisquick-type mix, then they added the conveor belt ovens. All about speed, and lowering price, and allowing for less competant cooks, I guess.

You cannot have sit-down with proper padded booths, table service, red/white checked table cloths, full salad bar, and charge Little Caesar's prices.

The original Pizza Hut thin crust was nasty, though. Like a giant matzo cracker. The later New Yorker thin was much better.

[kaktuskid]

Yum’s golden boy is Taco Bell, which they are trying to expand worldwide. KFC is a has-been in the US in the fried chicken wars but is still profitable outside the US. They also own Habit Burger, which is slowly growing.

[pierrem15]

“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,”

Long-winded way of saying, "We have no idea what we're doing."

Here's my guess: spreadsheet operators who know nothing about running restaurants decided to "maximize shareholder value" (i.e., increase their own pay and bonuses) by reducing staff, lowering the quality of ingredients and portion size and raising prices.

Somehow (unexpectedly!) consumers refused to pay more for crappier food and bad service, and the Wall Street wizards are surprised.

[PROCON]

I like Pizza Hut’s supreme pizza but lately instead of their own delivery drivers they’ve been using door dash drivers who always arrive late with a cold pizza. Nevermore.

[libertylover]

I like their pizza better than most of the other chains but it’s not as good as it used to be. They changed their recipe, and I don’t like it as well, then they changed it back but it’s still not as good as it used to be.

My least favorite of the big chains is Little Sleazers, but they have a following.

[Red Badger]

Your lucky it doesn’t arrive with a piece missing..............😏