Is Pizza Hut up for sale? Chris Turner—CEO of Yum! Brands, parent company of Pizza Hut—alluded to the possibility on a Q3 earnings call Tuesday morning.
Turner, who took over for Yum Brands’ retiring CEO David Gibbs in October, said he and his team have evaluated how to breathe life into the struggling pizza chain and are looking at a list of possibilities. Pizza Hut reported a 6% drop in Q3 same-store sales and a 7% drop in systemwide sales overall.
“Pizza Hut holds key structural advantages: strong brand equity, experienced franchise partners, and meaningful scale, which give it a unique opportunity to reclaim the leading position in the highly fragmented pizza market,” Turner said on the earnings call. “We believe a different approach, including but not limited to a sale of the business, would allow Pizza Hut to realize its full potential.”
Related: Pizza Hut’s Woes Continued in Q2 as Its ‘Value Message’ Failed to Resonate
Pizza Hut was once the most iconic pizza brand—and one of the most iconic restaurant brands—in the world. In 2017, Domino’s surpassed Pizza Hut in terms of systemwide sales in the U.S. In 2021, Domino’s also overtook Pizza Hut in terms of total U.S.-based locations. Domino’s has since run up the score on Pizza Hut, while Papa Johns and upstart pizza chains like Marco’s Pizza have shown strong growth, too.
Since 2017, Pizza Hut has suffered a net loss of nearly 1,000 restaurants in the U.S. Its sales have remained flat, even as brands like Domino’s have increased systemwide sales by over 60%.
Related: New CEO to Take Over Pizza Hut’s Parent Company With Base Salary of $1.1 Million
As was pointed out by The Wall Street Journal, roughly 42% of Pizza Hut’s total sales come from outside of the U.S. Indeed, Pizza Hut has even grown sales in select international markets. But it hasn’t been all good news overseas: In October, a failing England-based Pizza Hut franchisee, DC London Pie, forced the closure of 68 restaurants and 11 delivery sites.
Turner offered no timetable for a possible sale of Pizza Hut. “We can’t speculate on the exact timing of how this plays out,” he said in the earnings call. “We’ll evaluate all of the options and all of the paths, and we will share more as we have something definitive to share. I know there’s going to be lots of questions about that process, but at this time, we just can’t provide further comments.”
