{"id":1404744,"date":"2026-02-05T11:39:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T16:39:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thenewsherald.com\/?p=1404744&preview=true&preview_id=1404744"},"modified":"2026-02-05T20:29:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T01:29:00","slug":"pizza-hut-closing-stores-locations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thenewsherald.com\/2026\/02\/05\/pizza-hut-closing-stores-locations\/","title":{"rendered":"Pizza Hut to close hundreds of \u2018underperforming\u2019 locations this year"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pizza Hut is planning to close around 250 \u201cunderperforming\u201d locations<\/a> in the coming months, the chain\u2019s parent company announced on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Yum Brands<\/a>, which also owns Taco Bell and KFC, did not say which stores were being targeted or when the process would begin, but confirmed the closures would happen in the first half of 2026.<\/p>\n

The shuttered restaurants would account for roughly 4% of Pizza Hut\u2019s U.S. locations.<\/p>\n

According to its\u00a0latest earnings report<\/a>, Pizza Hut has 19,974 locations worldwide \u2014 nearly 2,000 fewer than Domino\u2019s, the world\u2019s largest pizza chain. About 6,360 locations<\/a> are in the U.S., with restaurants located throughout Michigan, including about 20 in Metro Detroit. In Rochester Hills, where there’s an express location and another spot inside of a Target store, its sit-down restaurant closed in recent years and reopened in a smaller express spot.<\/p>\n

Yum! is reportedly still in the midst of a \u201cformal review of strategic options,\u201d including a possible sale of Pizza Hut<\/a>, following a lag in domestic sales despite growing popularity due to nostalgia<\/a>.<\/p>\n