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A nostalgic pizza chain is taking a slice from its total store count.
Yum Brands Inc., which owns the Pizza Hut brand, is looking to shutter around 250 of the restaurant chain's locations in the U.S. this year, Chief Financial Officer Ranjith Roy said during a Feb. 4 earnings call.
The 250 closures would represent about 4% of the 6,360 domestic locations Yum reported having at the end of Q3 2025, Retail Dive reported.
Yum framed the closures as part of a larger strategic reevaluation of the pizza chain's operations, which saw same-store sales decline by 1% in 2025. The firm will endeavor to modernize the chain’s technology, refresh its franchise agreements and pump up capital to support marketing efforts, Roy said.
“The 250 stores that we mentioned is a very small portion of the 20,000-unit estate that Pizza Hut has globally, and it is the right answer for the brand as we move through the strategic review,” he said during the call.
Yum is among a handful of retail operators that have plans to close locations in the U.S. this year. The U.S. retail marketplace is expected to close some 7,900 stores and only open 5,500 in 2025, CNBC reported, citing Coresight Research. GameStop alone will close up shop on 467 locations in the coming year.
Pizza Hut is not the only eatery to make headlines with planned closures this week. Darden Restaurants announced it is ceasing operations of its Caribbean-themed restaurant chain Bahama Breeze and closing the remaining 28 U.S. locations over the course of 2026, WRAL News reported. Darden also operates Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse.
Despite the fact that predicted retail closures are expected to outpace openings in the coming year, Bain & Co. is projecting U.S. retail sales growth year-over-year of 3.5% this year to $5.3T. However, that growth rate represents a deceleration of 2025’s 4% retail sales growth.
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