Pizza Hut Franchisee Urges Yum To Strengthen Brand, Add Value

Nation’s Restaurant News:

NPC International Inc., Pizza Hut’s largest franchisee, has tasked its franchisor, Yum! Brands Inc., with finding a new brand strategy for the struggling pizza chain, which has seen its sales trends fall behind competitors Domino’s and Papa John’s.

NPC, which operates 1,150 Pizza Hut locations, said Yum has “struggled to find the proper message to connect with the consumer in this new recessionary environment.”

Both Domino’s and Papa John’s reported flat domestic same-store sales for their most recent quarters, while Yum has said Pizza Hut same-store sales fell 13 percent for the third quarter ended Sept. 5. At NPC, same-store sales fell 12.9 percent for its third quarter ended Sept. 29.

“We are clearly not performing on par with our two primary national competitors in the pizza segment,” said Jim Schwartz, NPC president and chief executive. “We believe that value and consumer reaction to our brand positioning are chief among the issues we face as we determine the best go-forward strategy for this great brand in this new consumer paradigm.”