Pizza Hut closing hundreds of locations around the U.S.

A Pizza Hut store in Azusa. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) Another major restaurant chain is shrinking in parts of the U.S. Pizza Hut’s parent company Yum Brands plans to close 250 U.S. locations, or about 3% of its nationwide retail footprint, in the first half of 2026. Yum Chief Financial Officer Ranjith Roy said on a Wednesday earnings call that the “targeted closures of underperforming units” are a part of what the company has dubbed its “Hut Forward” strategy — which also calls for more mark ...