300 Pizza Huts, mostly dine-in locations, to close nationwide – but El Paso not impacted

EL PASO, Texas -- Up to 300 Pizza Hut restaurants will be closed, most of them dine-in locations not well suited for carryout and delivery at a time when millions of people are sheltering and eating at home.

However, none of the Pizza Hut closures involve El Paso locations.

Franchisee NPC International said Monday in documents filed in bankruptcy court that it had come to an agreement with Pizza Hut to close hundreds of locations. The Leawood, Kansas, company filed for bankruptcy protection last month.

NPC owns 1,225 Pizza Huts and 385 Wendy’s restaurants in 27 states, and while it owns some Texas locations - none are in El Paso, leaving the Sun City unaffected by the closure plans.

There are 6,700 total Pizza Hut restaurants in the U.S.

In its filing, NPC said that closing stores not designed for pick-up or delivery will allow it to invest in smaller stores that can better handle online orders.

Pizza sales have exploded during the pandemic.

In May, Pizza Hut’s U.S. carryout and delivery sales reached an eight-year high, according to Yum Brands Inc., the Louisville, Kentucky, company that also owns KFC and Taco Bell.

But Pizza Hut’s U.S. sales grew just 1 percent in the April-June period; rival Domino’s Pizza, which has smaller, carryout-focused stores, posted a 20-percent jump in U.S. sales.

Domino’s last month reported a 30% spike in quarterly profits. On Monday it said that it was hiring more than 20,000 people to handle surging orders.

Yum Brands in a prepared statement said the stores being closed had under-performed others owned by NPC, and that shedding them would strengthen NPC’s remaining portfolio.