Hundreds of Pizza Hut restaurants are being sliced as the chain faces stale sales. Pizza Hut - the world's largest pizza chain, known for its all you can eat lunch buffets, ice cream machine, and salad bar - saw sales decline 3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2025. The chain's parent company Yum! Brands said during Wednesday's earnings call that about 250 'underperforming' Pizza Hut locations will shut down. Those unlucky locations - which make up roughly 3 percent of Pizza Hut's US footprint - will close in the first half of 2026. Along with Pizza Hut, Yum! Brands also owns KFC, Taco Bell, and Habit Burger & Grill.
Pizza Hut closures tied to wider brand reset
Pizza Hut's demise came as Taco Bell and KFC consistently delivered solid growth and expanded their store count. Yum! Brands Chief Financial Officer Ranjith Roy said on the earnings call that the closures will largely focus on lower-performing Pizza Hut locations as part of a wider push to modernize the brand. The closures are part of the company's 'Hut Forward' initiative, which is designed to refresh Pizza Hut's marketing, modernize its restaurant model and strengthen franchise performance. Yum! said it is also evaluating broader strategic options for the brand, suggesting the moves could be part of a more extensive reset. In November, the company announced it had launched a 'formal review of strategic options' for Pizza Hut - including a potential sale.
Pizza Hut was founded in 1958 by brothers Dan and Frank Carney, who opened the first location in Wichita, Kansas, using a $600 loan from their mother. The chain grew rapidly in the 1960s and 1970s, becoming known for its red-roofed dine-in restaurants, pan pizza, and later the introduction of stuffed crust in the 1990s. Pizza Hut also became a marketing standout, delivering pizzas to the White House and even sending one to astronauts aboard the International Space Station in 2001. Today - despite its recent closures - it remains one of the world's largest pizza chains, operating thousands of locations across more than 100 countries.
Pizza Hut expands overseas despite closures
In fact, Pizza Hut is still growing internationally. The chain opened more than 440 new locations globally in the fourth quarter, and nearly 1,200 restaurants across 65 countries. 'To help set expectations on key Pizza Hut business metrics for 2026, from a unit standpoint, we expect strong gross openings globally, which are seasonally weighted toward the back half of the year,' Roy said. Pizza Hut announced in October that it would close 68 restaurants and 11 delivery sites in the United Kingdom after the firm operating them fell into administration. These closures affected more than 1,200 employees.
Pizza Hut is just one of the many fast-casual eateries facing a reckoning as consumers pull back on spending, a trend that has hit the restaurant industry especially hard. Olive Garden's sister restaurant Bahama Breeze announced it would be closing all of its restaurants earlier this week. Noodles & Company just said it will close another 30 to 35 restaurants in 2026, on top of more shutdowns than initially planned last year. Popular California fast-food spot Kasper's Hot Dogs - famous for its chili dogs and old-school charm - closed its last two locations late last year. Another West Coast institution, Lemonade, closed its last remaining Bay Area store after shutting all other locations in the area just months ago.