Pizza Hut began in
Wichita, Kansas in 1958 when two
college students were approached by a family friend with the idea of opening a
pizza parlour restaurant. This was a new concept in America at the time and they quickly went about making the dream come true. For this they
borrowed $600 from one of their mothers, rented a small
building on a busy
intersection of Wichita, bought some
second-hand equipment, and went about becoming the biggest and most successful
pizza chain in the
world.
Pizza Hut
franchisees were
launched in
1958. Through this the Pizza Hut chain was able to develop both in the
United States and
overseas. Today,
franchisees and
joint venture partnerships account for nearly half of the Pizza Hut’s
total resturants.
Their first
international restaurant was opened in
Canada in
1968, after that Pizza Hut restaurants quickly appeared in
Mexico,
Australia,
Europe, the
Far East and
Africa.
In
1977 Pizza Hut was
acquired by
PepsiCo, Inc. As part of
PepsiCo, Pizza Hut shared its position with products like
Pepsi-Cola® brand soft drinks and
Frito-Lay® brand snack foods. In October,
1997,
PepsiCo spun off the restaurant businesses (Pizza Hut,
KFC and
Taco Bell) and
Tricon Global Restaurants was founded, making it the world largest resturant group.
For a fully comprehensive history of Pizza Hut, see www.pizzahut.com