- DC London Pie Limited, the franchise operating Pizza Hut’s restaurants, entered administration after facing ongoing financial difficulties
- Pizza Hut will close 68 restaurants and 11 delivery sites, leading to the loss of 1,210 jobs
- Yum Brands, the parent company of Pizza Hut, has acquired 64 restaurants to save about 1,276 jobs and maintain service continuity
Elijah Ntongai, an editor at TUKO.co.ke, has over four years of financial, business, and technology research and reporting experience, providing insights into Kenyan, African, and global trends.
DC London Pie Limited, the company that operates the Pizza Hut franchise in the UK entered administration.
Source: Getty Images
Consequently, Pizza Hut’s parent company, Yum Brands, has intervened to save some of the jobs and ensure continued service to the brand’s customers in the region.
Yum! Brands is the global company behind KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and The Habit Burger Grill brands. It operates more than 61,000 restaurants in over 155 countries, including a strong footprint in Kenya, where KFC remains a dominant fast-food player.
Yum Brands primarily operates through approximately 1500 franchises across its key markets, including Kenya, where KFC is particularly popular.
How many restaurants will Pizza Hut close?
Following DC London’s troubles, Pizza Hut is set to close 68 restaurants and 11 delivery sites across the UK, resulting in the loss of 1,210 jobs.
The DC London, which runs Pizza Hut’s UK operations, appointed FTI Consulting as administrators on Monday.
The move marks another setback for the brand’s UK business, which has struggled in recent years amid rising costs and changing consumer habits.
Pizza Hut’s global parent company, Yum! Brands, has stepped in to acquire 64 restaurants to prevent the closure of all its brand outlets.
This move will save approximately 1,276 jobs.
In a statement, a Pizza Hut UK spokesperson said, “We are pleased to secure the continuation of 64 sites to safeguard our guest experience and protect the associated jobs.”
“This targeted acquisition aims to safeguard our guest experience and protect jobs where possible,” Nicolas Burquier, managing director for Pizza Hut Europe and Canada added as reported by BBC.
He noted that the company’s immediate priority was ensuring “operational continuity at the acquired locations and supporting colleagues through the transition.”
Source: Getty Images
Pizza Hut, known for its family-friendly dining experience and salad bar, has faced financial challenges in the UK for years.
The company last entered administration less than a year ago before being acquired by DC London Pie in January. The firm also owns Pizza Hut franchises in Sweden and Denmark.
Dutch fintech subsidiary, PayU liquidated in Kenya
In other news, The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has revoked the operating licence of PayU Kenya Limited.
This marks the official end of the Dutch-owned fintech’s operations in the country following its entry into liquidation.
PayU Kenya, a subsidiary of Netherlands-based PayU and part of the global investment group Prosus, entered liquidation in August after struggling to compete in a market overwhelmingly dominated by Safaricom’s M-Pesa, which controls more than 80% of payment transactions.
The company offered integrated digital payment solutions combining card, bank, and mobile money services for online merchants.
Despite its global presence and operations in markets like Nigeria and South Africa, PayU failed to gain traction in Kenya’s mobile-first payments landscape.
Its exit came weeks after CBK also revoked the licence of Bonto Kenya Money Transfer Limited, underscoring the growing challenges fintechs face in Kenya’s competitive digital payments ecosystem.
Source: TUKO.co.ke
