Pizza Hut company history timeline
1958
WHERE WE COME FROM. In 1958, two brothers borrowed $600 from their mom to open a pizza place in Wichita, Kansas.
1959
A year later, in 1959, Pizza Hut was incorporated in Kansas, and Dick Hassur opened the first franchise unit in Topeka, Kansas.
1962
In 1962, the Carney brothers bought out the interest held by Bender, and Robert Chisholm joined the company as treasurer.
1963
By the year 1963, a mere 5 years after the initial store was opened, Pizza Hut was able to hire George Lindstrom, a world-renowned architect, to come up with and implement a unified design language to take the brand to the next level.
1965
The first Pizza Hut ad campaign was enacted and launched in 1965.
1966
By 1966 Pizza Hut had grown to 145 units.
1967
A couple of years later, in 1967, the company got rid of Pizza Hut Pete and introduced the now-iconic lettering and red-roofed construction of their restaurants.
1968
The Carneys developed the International Pizza Hut Franchise Holders Association (IPHFHA) in 1968 in an effort to buy back 40 percent of the Pizza Hut franchises.
1969
By 1969 the pizza restaurant had moved across borders, with various restaurants opening in Canada and even some in Australia.
1970
In early 1970 Frank Carney decided that the company practice of relying on statistics from its annual report to inform its business strategy was inadequate, and that a more developed, long-term business plan was necessary.
In 1970 Pizza Hut opened units in Munich, Germany, and Sydney, Australia.
1971
In 1971 Pizza Hut became the world's largest pizza chain, according to sales and number of restaurants--then just more than 1,000 in all.
1972
He decided to take the company public by selling 410,000 shares in 1972.
1973
In 1973 Pizza Hut expanded further by opening outlets in Japan and Great Britain.
1980
To raise its profile, Pizza Hut introduced "Pan Pizza" in 1980 throughout its network.
1984
In 1984 Steven Reinemund was appointed president and chief executive officer of Pizza Hut.
By 1984 Pizza Hut had 5,000 restaurants in operation around the world, and the company introduced delivery and carry-out services, which quickly accounted for 25 percent of the chain's revenues.
1986
In 1986 Pizza Hut opened its 5,000th franchise unit, in Dallas, Texas, and began its successful home delivery service.
In 1986, the original Pizza Hut building found a fitting home on Wichita State University’s campus.
1990
In 1990 Pizza Hut opened its first restaurant in Moscow.
1991
Company sales at the pizza chain were up ten percent worldwide to $5.3 billion in 1991 as growing health awareness and the popularity of vegetarian lifestyles had prompted many people to reconsider pizza as a nutritious alternative to greasy fast food fare.
In 1991 PepsiCo had restaurant outlets in 80 countries worldwide.
Competition in the United States was heightened in 1991 when McDonald's, the world's largest hamburger fast food chain, put "McPizza" on its menu in several test markets and even offered home delivery to customers.
1992
In 1992, the Book It! program involved more than 17 million students in North America alone, and Pizza Hut received letters of endorsem*nt that year from President George Bush and Secretary of Education Lámar Alexander.
1994
In an effort to change this disturbing direction, Roger A. Enrico moved from PepsiCo's beverage and snack food divisions to head the restaurant division in 1994.
1995
Some indicators were promising: market share rose from 25.6 to 27 percent; 1995 sales increased 16 percent to $5.2 billion; and operating income rose to $414 million, up 40 percent from the year before.
1996
In 1996 Pizza Hut planned to introduce a major new product each year and two or three line extensions.
Although Pizza Hut held on to the lead in the industry, competitor Papa John's International experienced the greatest financial growth in 1996, according to Amy Zuber in Nation's Restaurant News.
1997
As part of its restructuring, Pizza Hut launched a campaign in 1997 to restore the company's image by improving the quality of its pizza.
In 1997, amid robust competition flagging sales, Pizza Hut began to experiment with a diverse new line of products in 25 Louisville, Kentucky, restaurants.
In 1997 Carole H. Riley was the company's largest African-American franchisee with 47 units.
Pizza Hut has been the leader of the national pizza chain industry in the United States since the 1970s. It has opened more than 7,730 restaurants in the United States, 4,697 of which Pizza Hut Inc. owned in 1997.
1998
Pizza Hut planned to introduce them nationally in 1998.
2010
In 2010 the logo was renewed once more.
2014
Nearing the end of 2014, Pizza Hut Corporate announced further modernizing of the restaurant’s identity.
In 2014, Pizza Hut had a rebrand to increase their sales which have dropped in the previous two years.
2018
The famous pizza chain is also known for its Italian-American cuisine menu. It has more than 16,796 restaurants and delivery outlets worldwide as of 2018.
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Founded
1958
Headquarters
Plano, TX
Founders
Frank Carney
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Company Name | Founded Date | Revenue | Employee Size | Job Openings |
---|---|---|---|---|
Wendy's | 1969 | $2.1B | 12,500 | 4,511 |
KFC | 1952 | $6.8B | 820,000 | 1,887 |
Subway | 1965 | $16.1B | 5,000 | 50 |
Panera Bread | 1981 | $2.8B | 140,000 | 2,265 |
Applebee's Canada | 1980 | $2.5B | 28,000 | 880 |
Buffalo Wild Wings | 1982 | $2.0B | 44,000 | 3,355 |
Chipotle Mexican Grill | 1993 | $8.6B | 64,570 | 3,429 |
McDonald's | 1940 | $23.2B | 210,000 | 28,904 |
Yum! Brands | 1997 | $6.8B | 34,000 | 31 |
PepsiCo | 1898 | $86.4B | 267,000 | 1,024 |
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Updated July 21, 2023
Zippia gives an in-depth look into the details of Pizza Hut, including salaries, political affiliations, employee data, and more, in order to inform job seekers about Pizza Hut. The employee data is based on information from people who have self-reported their past or current employments at Pizza Hut. The data on this page is also based on data sources collected from public and open data sources on the Internet and other locations, as well as proprietary data we licensed from other companies. Sources of data may include, but are not limited to, the BLS, company filings, estimates based on those filings, H1B filings, and other public and private datasets. While we have made attempts to ensure that the information displayed are correct, Zippia is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of this information. None of the information on this page has been provided or approved by Pizza Hut. The data presented on this page does not represent the view of Pizza Hut and its employees or that of Zippia.
Pizza Hut may also be known as or be related to American Huts, Inc., Laraza Pizza, Inc, Pizza Hut, Pizza Hut LLC and Pizza Hut Of The Northwest.