Pizza Hut to close swathes of restaurants nationwide

Pizza Hut plans to close a large number of its restaurants across the United States in the first half of 2026 after parent company Yum Brands “commenced a review of strategic options for the Pizza Hut brand,” executives said on the company’s fourth-quarter 2025 earnings call.

How Many Restaurants Are Closing

Yum announced it was planning to close 250 of its “underperforming” restaurants across the United States in 2026, which roughly represents around 3 percent of Pizza Hut’s U.S. footprint, according to reporting from multiple outlets, including CNN.

USA Today reported that Ranjith Roy, Yum’s chief financial officer, is framing the 250 store closures as “a very small portion of the 20,000-unit estate that Pizza Hut has globally,” and believes it’s “the right answer for the brand” as they continue forward with the strategic review. Roy also said the closures are part of a program Yum is calling “Hut Forward,” which is a strategy that includes marketing investments, technology modernization, and new franchise agreements. 

Yum hasn’t published a list of the restaurants that it plans to shutter, and CNN reported that the company declined to provide specific locations beyond describing them as “underperforming units.” 

Why Stores Are Closing

During the earnings call, multiple outlets reported that Yum declared the Pizza Hut stores slated for closure were “underperforming.” 

Yum began a formal strategic review of options for Pizza Hut in November 2025—including a potential sale—after the chain’s U.S. same-store sales fell by 3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2025, and full-year U.S. sales declined by 5 percent, The Independent reported. 

In a statement made in November, 2025, Chris Turner, chief executive officer of Yum, said, “The Pizza Hut team has been working hard to address business and category challenges; however, Pizza Hut’s performance indicates the need to take additional action to help the brand realize its full value, which may be better executed outside of Yum Brands.”

“To truly take advantage of the brand we’ve built and the opportunities ahead, we’ve made the decision to initiate a thorough review of strategic options.”

The fall in sales reflects ongoing challenges, including stronger competition—especially from Domino’s. The decline is further spotlighted by the performance of Yum’s other brands: Taco Bell recorded a 7 percent increase in same‑store sales and KFC a 1 percent increase, according to Yum’s published earnings call release. 

What Happens Next

Although Yum Brands hasn’t set a deadline or “definitive timetable for the completion of the strategic options review,” reporting from CNN said that Yum is likely to complete its strategic review of Pizza Hut in 2026. 

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