Pizza Hut is a popular American fast-food chain that serves Italian-American cuisine. It is renowned for its variety of pizzas, side dishes, pasta, and desserts. The first Pizza Hut restaurant was established by brothers Dan and Frank Carney in Wichita, Kansas. Today, Pizza Hut is the largest catering structure in the world, with over 18,700 restaurants in operation as of January 2020. It is no wonder that the British company Richtopia ranked Pizza Hut 24th among the 200 most influential brands. Currently, the restaurant chain is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc.
In 1958, two student brothers from Wichita State University decided to open an Italian pizzeria in their town. Six months later, they established a second location, and in 1959, they had a real fast food chain with nine restaurants. That same year, Dan and Frank switched to a franchise system. The iconic Pizza Hut building design came later (in 1963). It was designed by architect George Lindstrom, who worked in Chicago. The project was completed in 1969.
In 1977, the restaurant chain was taken over by another owner: it was bought by PepsiCo. After 20 years, Pizza Hut and two other food service chains (Kentucky Fried Chicken and Taco Bell) left the chain and formed a new entity called Tricon Global Restaurants, Inc. But then, a few years later, it changed it: the result was Yum! Brands in the spring of 2020.