Jun. 16, 2026 "Pizza Hut, overtaken by the arrival of delivery culture, will be sold for US$2.7 billion": Today I found this article on BNN Bloomberg:
Pizza Hut, the 68-year-old chain that
has long struggled with growing competition and outdated restaurants,
will be sold for US$2.7 billion by parent company Yum Brands.
Yum Brands said Tuesday that
the private equity firm LongRange Capital will buy Pizza Hut,
excluding the mainland China business, for about $1.5 billion.
In mainland China,
Pizza Hut will be purchased by Yum China Holdings Inc. for approximately $1.2 billion, the company said.
China is Pizza Hut’s second-largest market outside the U.S.,
accounting for 19 per cent of sales.
Yum China Holdings Inc. spun off from Yum Brands
and became an independent company in 2016.
Yum Brands, which also owns KFC and Taco Bell, began to explore its options for Pizza Hut in November.
Last year, Yum Brands’ global sales rose 5 per cent but Pizza Hut’s sales fell 2 per cent.
In February, Yum Brands announced plans to close 250 U.S. Pizza Hut locations.
Pizza Hut had 19,974 restaurants worldwide at the end of last year.
“Pizza Hut has long been the weak link in Yum’s portfolio,”
Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, wrote Tuesday.
“Despite efforts to revitalize the brand
and shut underperforming locations,
it has become increasingly clear that pushing the division back into growth
will require a level of investment and patience
that Yum is just not prepared to commit to.”
Pizza Hut was founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas,
by two brothers who borrowed $600 from their mother to open the store.
They chose the name because their sign only had room for eight letters.
Pizza Hut’s familiar red roof debuted in 1969
and by 1971 it was the top pizza chain in the world by sales.
PepsiCo acquired Pizza Hut in 1977 but spun off its restaurant division -- which became Yum Brands -- in 1997.
By the 1980s, Domino’s was the fastest-growing U.S. pizza company, buoyed by its promise of 30-minute delivery.
As pizza carryout and delivery grew in popularity,
Pizza Hut was saddled with large, dine-in restaurants.
In 2020, even as pizza delivery boomed during the COVID-19 pandemic,
Pizza Hut closed 300 U.S. restaurants.
The chain has been further pinched in recent years by the growth of
DoorDash, Uber Eats and other restaurant delivery companies which marketed access to a slew of cuisines
besides pizza.
U.S. pizza sales have slowed considerably since the pandemic,
growing less than 1 per cent in 2024
and falling less than 1 per cent in 2025,
according to Technnomic, a restaurant consulting company.
But Pizza Hut performed worse than average, with U.S. sales down 8.2 per cent last year, Technomic said.
By selling Pizza Hut, Yum Brands can focus more on its brands with stronger sales, Yum CEO Chris Turner said.
“Under LongRange and Yum China,
Pizza Hut will be well positioned for future growth with ownership that brings deep expertise in the restaurant industry,”
Turner said in a statement.
Connecticut-based LongRange Capital was founded in 2019 by Bob Berlin, who previously engineered a turnaround at Arby’s when he led private equity investments at The Baupost Group. Berlin said Tuesday he looked forward to working with Pizza Hut’s executive team and franchisees “to drive its next phase of growth.”
“Pizza Hut is a beloved global brand with a rich heritage and a loyal customer base that few brands can match,” Berlin said in a statement.
Asked Tuesday if LongRange planned to close any Pizza Hut locations, the company said it had no comment beyond Berlin’s statement.
Yum Brands, based in Louisville, Kentucky, expects the sale in U.S. and China to close in the third quarter. The company’s stock rose 2.3 per cent Tuesday.
---
Michelle Chapman and Dee-ann Durbin, The Associated Press
Jul. 10, 2026 "Dairy Queen franchisees have quietly closed more than 40 stores in less than two years": Today I found this article by Rachel Dobkin on The Independent and Yahoo:
Dairy Queen franchisees have quietly closed more than 40 stores in less than two years.
Most of the closures hit Texas, leaving residents with fewer ice cream joints to cool down during the summer heat.
The latest round of closures on a list compiled by food media brand Delish was in Alaska.
An unnamed franchise owner shuttered Dairy Queen restaurants in Anchorage, Wasilla and Palmer last week, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
Now just one Dairy Queen remains in Alaska, and it's in the southcentral city of Soldotna.
It's unclear why the Alaska locations closed down. But Pete Ischi, who owns the Soldotna Dairy Queen, said operating the ice cream restaurants in Alaska
can be difficult
given the cost of transporting food
to the state.
"We pay freight to get stuff up to Alaska,
where Oregon, Washington, you know, they've got the distributors an hour away,"
he told the Anchorage Daily News.
Another Dairy Queen in Great Falls, Montana, closed down last month and will be replaced by a Mediterranean restaurant called Zersty Eatz, local outlet KRTV reported.
"Our goal is to bring something fresh and exciting to Great Falls,"
Steve Galloway, who owned the Dairy Queen for nearly 40 years, told the outlet.
There are still two Dairy Queen locations in Great Falls, according to the outlet.
A slew of Dairy Queens shuttered in Texas last year,
all connected to the same franchise owner, Project Lone Star.
Twenty-five locations closed in February 2025,
followed by another dozen the following month,
local outlet KETK reported at the time.
A Dairy Queen representative told the outlet that the closures were an "an isolated event,"
but did not share future details.
Court documents obtained by KETK showed that
Dairy Queen warned Project Lone Star
that it would terminate its franchise rights
if it did not remodel the locations.
The first Dairy Queen restaurant opened in Joliet, Illinois, in 1940,
and has since grown into a global business operating
more than 7,800 restaurants
in more than 20 countries,
according to its website.
The Independent has reached out to Dairy Queen for comment about the store closures.
https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/dairy-queen-franchisees-quietly-closed-223156989.html
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