They operated a pizza parlor across from the family store to pay for their college education. The first Pizza Hut was opened in Wichita, Kansas in 1958. The Carneys started serving pizzas from a small, six hundred square foot restaurant.
Unsure of exactly how to make pizza when they first opened and using a recipe borrowed from a friend.
Six months later the brothers opened their second restaurant. Within a year there were six Pizza Hut outlets. The brothers began franchising Pizza Hut in 1959.
PepsiCo purchased Pizza Hut in 1977. Stockholders approved the for a reported $300 million. Pizza Hut began a process to Americanize its image. Its initial logo – an Italian chef tossing pizza – was changed to the red roof that symbolized their ‘hut’.
By 1990 Pizza Hut ranked fourth in sales among all chain restaurants.
In 1997 Pizza Hut was spun off from PepsiCo into Tricon Global Restaurants now Yum! Brands Inc.
The origin of Pizza Hut
