Pizza Hut
Pizza restaurant chain founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas, with about 19,985 restaurants in mid-2026; sold by Yum! Brands in 2026 to Yum China (China) and LongRange Capital (rest of world).
Industry: Restaurants and franchising | Location: Plano, United States | Founded: 1958
About Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut is a global pizza restaurant brand founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas, by brothers Dan and Frank Carney. Yum! Brands reported 19,974 Pizza Hut restaurants at the end of 2025 and 19,985 at 30 June 2026, counts that include mainland China. Its global team has been based in Plano, Texas.
According to Wikipedia, PepsiCo acquired Pizza Hut in 1977, and in 1997 spun it off with Taco Bell and KFC as Tricon Global Restaurants, which was renamed Yum! Brands in 2002. Aaron Powell led the Pizza Hut division from September 2021 until he left on 1 September 2026.
LongRange Capital describes the brand as known for its Original Pan and Original Stuffed Crust pizzas and says it took the first online food order in 1994 and runs the Hut Rewards loyalty program in the United States. It puts system-wide sales at about 10 billion dollars. Yum China operated 4,168 Pizza Hut restaurants at the end of 2025 and 4,549 at 30 June 2026. Wikipedia lists Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar among its markets, and TechScoop reported in June 2026 that in the Middle East it operates largely through franchise groups such as Americana Restaurants.
Yum! began reviewing strategic options for Pizza Hut in 2025 and on 16 June 2026 agreed to sell it for about 2.7 billion dollars in two transactions. Pizza Hut China went to Yum China Holdings for about 1.2 billion dollars, closing on 7 August 2026. Pizza Hut outside mainland China went to LongRange Capital for about 1.5 billion dollars plus an earn-out of up to 75 million dollars by 2030, closing on 1 September 2026. Yum!'s filing names the buyer entity as Toppings TopCo, LLC.
Nation's Restaurant News reported that the chain was on track to close about 250 restaurants in 2026.
Eduardo Luz leads Pizza Hut on an interim basis. He was chief executive and president of P.F. Chang's from 2023 to 2025 and earlier held roles at Panera Bread, 8Greens and Kraft Heinz.
Leadership
- Eduardo Luz, Interim Chief Executive Officer
- Jeff Kuai, General Manager, Pizza Hut (Yum China)