Pizza Hut to shut 68 UK restaurants after hiring administrators
Pizza Hut is to shut 68 restaurants after the company behind its UK venues fell into administration.
The company has not disclosed how many workers will impacted by the closures.
It will also shut 11 delivery sites as part of a restructuring which will put 1,210 workers at risk of redundancy.
DC London Pie, the firm running Pizza Hut’s UK dine-in restaurants, appointed administrators from corporate finance firm FTI today (Monday).
It comes less than a year after the business had itself bought the chain’s restaurants from insolvency.
Pizza Hut has a number of restaurants in the West Midlands, including Castlegate Leisure Park, Dudley; Merry Hill Shopping Centre, Brierley Hill; Weavers Wharf, Kidderminster; Telford Bridge Retail Park; Meole Brace Retail Park, Shrewsbury, and Birmingham's Star City.
On Monday, American hospitality giant Yum! Brands, which owns the global Pizza Hut business, said it has now bought the UK restaurant operation in a pre-pack administration deal.
The rescue deal will save 64 sites and secure the future of 1,277 workers.
Nicolas Burquier, managing director of Pizza Hut Europe and Canada, said: “This targeted acquisition aims to safeguard our guest experience and protect jobs where possible.
“Our immediate priority is operational continuity at the acquired locations and supporting colleagues through the transition.”
The administration comes around six weeks after a subsidiary of Yum filed a winding up petition against DC London Pie.
DC London Pie was the company formed after Directional Capital, which operated franchises in Sweden and Denmark, snapped up 139 UK restaurants from the previous UK franchisee Heart with Smart Limited in January of this year.
