Pizza Hut began in 1958 and was opened by two brothers, Frank and Dan Carney. Their friend suggested opening a pizza parlor they agreed with the idea that it could prove successful, so that they borrowed $600 form their mother to start a business. At that time the original Pizza hut was at Wichita State University with 25 seats.
The concept was relatively new at the time and the brothers quickly saw the potential of this new enterprise.
When making the sign for the restaurant they only had enough room for nine letters and because they made pizza's they wanted pizza in the name, that only left 3 letters and because the restaurant looked like a hut they named it Pizza Hut.
Their first franchise was opened in 1959 in Topeka, Kansas. Their chain started growing up very fast, ten years later Pizza Hut Inc., counted almost 300 restaurants.
The varieties of pizza offered combined with Pizza Hut’s family-friendly atmosphere and strategic opening of restaurants in small and medium sized towns, made it a highly successful enterprise.
The whole history of pizza hut has been achieved through innovation, but the history of pizza hut really took off with amalgamation into the Pepsi Company and more aggressive marketing techniques especially in the take out market.
PepsiCo purchased Pizza Hut in 1977. Pizza Hut began a process to Americanize its image. Its initial logo – an Italian chef tossing a pizza – was change to the red roof that symbolized their ‘hut’.
Pizza Hut – world largest pizza franchise
