(WAND) – Pizza Hut is closing about 500 of its stores in a two-year period.
The news came Thursday, as Today reports Pizza Hut owner Yum! Foods considers a shift to a carry-out and delivery focus over dine-in restaurants. In the next two years, the number of restaurants Pizza Hut operates in the United States could drop from 7,496 to around 7,000.
Underperforming restaurants will be closed, but it’s unclear if central Illinois Pizza Hut stores will be affected. There are locations in multiple locations across central Illinois, including stores in Decatur, Springfield and Champaign.
“Pizza Hut continues to develop tailored action plans for our largest dine-in markets, while at the same time transforming the estate for a more compelling off-premise focused asset strategy,” said Yum! Brands CEO Greg Creed in an Aug. 1 company earnings call.
Today reports companies like Yum, which also owns Taco Bell and KFC, have shifted away from sit-down experiences because they’ve had to battle with competitive prices of the largest fast-food companies and the healthier options of some fast-casual restaurants.
Yum! Foods leaders said numbers are still strong financially, as same-store sales increased by 2 percent in the latest earnings report.
Of the Pizza Hut restaurants open in the U.S., about 6,1000 of them are traditional restaurants, while the rest are express stores. Across the world, Pizza Hut has 18,515 stores – an increase from the 16,823 open in August of 2018.
