Pizza Hut ready to serve up super size £40m UK and Ireland expansion
Fast food giant Pizza Hut Delivery is planning to serve up a £40m expansion in the UK and Ireland over the next four years that will create at least 3,000 new jobs.
By 2020 the pizza firm is planning to launch 200 new takeaway stores, of which around one in four will take the Pizza Hut Express format.
These branches take the form of quick serve units that offer "individual eats" – smaller servings of pizza that are easy to take away. The brand's latest store recently opened in Westfield Stratford City.
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The expansion follows the company reaching a milestone this year by reaching the worldwide business's highest portfolio of Huts, with around 700 now operating across the UK and Ireland, including 270 restaurants.
Pizza Hut Delivery, owned by Yum! Brands, is a separate entity to Pizza Hut Restaurants, which sold the restaurant arm to private equity firm Rutland Partners four years ago.
Rutland put the UK chain, including all 270 of its restaurants, up for sale in February.
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Raphael Miolane, chief executive of Pizza Hut UK & Ireland said:
We've built a firm foundation for the business since we opened our first delivery store over 15 years ago. We are proud to be on a path for continued growth in the UK, with ambitious plans to open a further 200 Pizza Hut stores by 2020. Our Pizza Hut Express portfolio will play an important role in this strategy, with at least 50 taking this format.
We wouldn't be where we are today without our franchisees and we are looking forward to growing out existing relationships, whilst also developing new partnerships to achieve our ambitions.