Pizza Hut History: Founding, Timeline, and Milestones - Zippia (2024)

WHERE WE COME FROM. In 1958, two brothers borrowed $600 from their mom to open a pizza place in Wichita, Kansas.

A year later, in 1959, Pizza Hut was incorporated in Kansas, and Dick Hassur opened the first franchise unit in Topeka, Kansas.

In 1962, the Carney brothers bought out the interest held by Bender, and Robert Chisholm joined the company as treasurer.

The first Pizza Hut ad campaign was enacted and launched in 1965.

By 1966 Pizza Hut had grown to 145 units.

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.

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.

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.

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.

He decided to take the company public by selling 410,000 shares in 1972.

In 1973 Pizza Hut expanded further by opening outlets in Japan and Great Britain.

To raise its profile, Pizza Hut introduced "Pan Pizza" in 1980 throughout its network.

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.

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.

In 1990 Pizza Hut opened its first restaurant in Moscow.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Pizza Hut planned to introduce them nationally in 1998.

In 2010 the logo was renewed once more.

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.

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.

Plano, TX

Frank Carney