Pizza Hut Restaurants has signed for its first site after a five-year hiatus.
A new 4,000 sq ft restaurant, which it has signed on a 20- year lease, is scheduled to open in 2017 at Land Securities’ White Rose development in Leeds.
The casual dining pizza chain has been focusing on a store closure and £60m refurbishment programme after it was sold to turnaround specialists Rutland Partners by American company Yum! Brands in 2012.
During this period it closed around 50 restaurants. Yum! Brands retained ownership of the Pizza Hut delivery business, which it has been expanding separately.
Rutland retained the management team, and pledged to invest £20m into the business immediately, then £40m into refurbishing existing sites.
In December Pizza Hut Restaurants posted like-for-like growth of 6.2% from 1 December 2014 to 29 November 2015. This compares with a pretax loss of nearly £1m in the year to 30 November 2013, following a loss of £4.4m the year before it was sold.
After returning to profitability, it is now hoping to open four or five sites annually.
Pizza Hut Restaurants’ development director, Mike Spencer, said: “The refurbished estate is playing a significant role in the success of our business, with Huts achieving up to 40% increase in sales growth.”
It has now refurbished more than half of its 280-strong portfolio. The new restaurants include a new American diner-inspired design and a fresh menu.
Following its recovery programme, it is expected that Rutland will explore options of a sale of the business.
Researchers NPD Group have estimated that the casual dining market in the UK is set to outgrow all other food subsectors and achieve spending of £5bn by the end of 2016 – 13.7% higher than 2015.
Central Retail acted for Pizza Hut Restaurants; JLL is the letting agent on White Rose.
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