Pizza Hut Closed 261 US Stores in 2025 Amid Ownership Change

Pizza Hut closed 261 U.S. stores in 2025, a significant reduction in its physical footprint, as the fast-food giant transitioned to new ownership. The acquisition by private equity firm LongRange Capital was finalized yesterday, following an announcement in June by the former owner, Yum Brands. The pizza chain's latest franchise disclosure document (FDD), released in March 2026, details these closures and reveals a continuing trend of store reductions. At the close of fiscal year 2025, Pizza Hut operated a total of 5,031 franchise and company-owned locations in the United States, marking a net loss of 206 restaurants from the beginning of that year. Of these locations, 75 were company-owned, and 4,956 were franchised.

The majority of the closures, 259 in total, were franchised locations spread across 40 states. California experienced the largest number of closures with 28 stores, followed closely by Florida with 25. Other states with substantial closures include Illinois (20), Georgia (18), and Texas (16). States like Indiana, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin each saw 10 store closures. Louisiana and New York each closed 9 locations, while Alabama and Ohio closed 8 each. Maryland and South Carolina each lost 6 stores, with Kentucky, Missouri, and Washington closing 5 each. Colorado, Iowa, North Carolina, Arizona, Kansas, Nebraska, Nevada, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Utah each had between 3 and 4 closures. Arkansas, Michigan, Mississippi, and North Dakota each closed 2 stores, and Alaska, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Virginia, and West Virginia each saw one closure. Additionally, Pizza Hut closed two company-owned stores, one in North Carolina and one in South Carolina.

This wave of closures reflects a broader, three-year trend for Pizza Hut. The company reported a net loss of 16 locations in 2023, which escalated to a loss of 70 locations in 2024, and then significantly increased to a net loss of 206 locations in 2025. Concurrently, Pizza Hut has been opening fewer new stores each year. In 2023, the brand opened 155 new locations, a number that decreased to 89 in 2024, and further dropped to just 55 new openings in 2025. This pattern of closures and reduced openings suggests a strategic shift or a response to market conditions under both previous and new ownership.