Pizza Hut

Pizza Hut Franchise

Everyone loves pizza, so there will always be a market for great pizza chains and restaurant companies. If you're looking to build a business that will always have a hungry customer base, a Pizza Hut franchise is right up your alley.

For numerous reasons, starting a Pizza Hut restaurant franchise could be an excellent idea. 

Currently, Pizza Hut is the largest pizza restaurant chain in the world, hosting over 6200 restaurants in the United States alone. There are another over 4000 restaurants located in other countries. 

For over 50 years, Pizza Hut has grown its brand and market dominance. Today, it’s a household name offering pizza, garlic bread and plenty of other food products to its loyal customer base. Pizza Hut offers franchise opportunities to those with the drive and ambition to succeed.

Do you need help figuring out where to start or what it takes to start a Pizza Hut franchise? This article will go over everything you need to know.  

Why should you start a Pizza Hut franchise?

You may want to start a Pizza Hut franchise for many reasons.

For example, Pizza Hut is a subsidiary of its parent company, Yum! Brands. Why does that matter? In a nutshell, Yum! provides all of its subsidiary companies with substantial resourcing and marketing support. 

As a result, you’ll never feel like you are running your Pizza Hut franchise entirely by yourself. Pizza Hut is a successful multinational company because of its integrated corporate resources for franchise owners.

That’s not the only reason to start a Pizza Hut franchise. You can pick from one of three different restaurant types for your franchise business, including the following:

• Restaurant-based deliverysystem restaurants or RBD system restaurants. These include dine-in and carry-out restaurant options for customers. Think of the classic Pizza Hut restaurant you've probably patronized in the past; that's what this restaurant model is.
• Delivery or carry-out or Delcosystem restaurants. These offer approved products to be sold for carry-out and delivery only, essentially acting as a delivery food station.
• Delivery-based restaurants or DBR and fast casual Delcosystem restaurants. With this restaurant model, your employees will deliver products for off-premises consumption, but you'll also offer some dine-in consumption options. It's essentially a hybrid restaurant model.

Given this flexibility, you can start a Pizza Hut restaurant of whatever type. If you want to run a clean, neat establishment with lots of seating areas, you can do that. Or you can lean more into the dine-out craze currently sweeping the country. Your business opportunity is yours to customize.

However, note that Pizza Hut does recommend that franchisees or principal owners participate in the day-to-day operation and running of their system restaurants, though it is not explicitly required. 

Still, Pizza Hut recommends that only business owners and managers who enjoy hands-on work apply for franchising. A lot goes into running a successful Pizza Hut chain restaurant; most work occurs on-premises.

Does Pizza Hut grant franchisees territory exclusivity?

Part of why Pizza Hut is such a popular franchisor is because it grants limited exclusivity to franchisees.

Specifically, each franchisee gets a protected radius of about 500 yards surrounding their restaurants. This way, you don’t have to worry about another Pizza Hut franchisee directly cutting in on your profits or competing for the same customer group. 

That said, you’ll still need to choose the right location for your restaurant carefully, as the odds are that big cities will have many Pizza Hut franchised locations already established.

Luckily, the franchisor will help you choose the perfect spot based on your initial franchise fee, cash reserves and other factors. 

With Pizza Hut’s help, you can set up a new restaurant with an underserved market, improving the likelihood that you’ll immediately thrive, even accounting for royalty fees and loans.

On top of that, Pizza Hut will guarantee a specified delivery area for the restaurant you choose to operate. That way, you won’t have to compete with other Pizza Hut delivery services.

Related: Should I Open a Pizza Franchise Abroad?

What resources and support does Pizza Hut provide franchisees? 

Pizza Hut franchisees can use various support resources, including online support, field operations support, site selection support and security and safety procedures support.

On top of that, you’ll get access to proprietary software and the franchisee intranet platform. If you ever have a serious question to ask corporate, you’ll find it easy to contact them. 

As a business manager, you can attend Pizza Hut meetings and conventions to grow your business skills and network with other franchisees.

Pizza Hut corporate will provide further marketing support as you market your Pizza Hut location. Ad templates can quickly prepare your online and conventional marketing media. 

You’ll also receive social media marketing support, plus be able to use the Pizza Hut corporate loyalty program and app. With those resources, you’ll be able to curate and maintain a loyal customer base in your local area for years. 

Related: A Pizza Franchisee Explains the Secrets Behind His Success

How much does starting a Pizza Hut franchise cost?

But what will it take to start a brand-new Pizza Hut franchise? As it turns out, that answer can vary depending on your franchise location and market competitiveness.

As specified in the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD), you'll have to pay a minimum initial franchise fee of $25,000. Then you'll need to make an initial investment, ranging between $367,000 and over $2 million for some of the more competitive locations. 

Therefore, your net worth requirement is $700,000; Pizza Hut requires this to ensure new franchisees have the funds needed to make their restaurants successful. You'll also need another $350,000 in cash (this can be part of your net worth).

After establishing your restaurant, you'll have to deal with royalty fees totaling 6%, plus ad royalty fees of 4.75%. That can diminish your gross sales, but the fees are comparable with other restaurants, like Taco Bell and KFC.

When you sign the contract, you enter a 20-year agreement term. The term is renewable if you enjoy running your Pizza Hut restaurant and its business model. If your restaurant has been profitable, you may be able to keep the same profit margins or even see reduced royalty fees.

Does Pizza Hut offer financial assistance?

Don’t have quite enough to start your own Pizza Hut franchise? Good news; Pizza Hut can connect you to third-party lenders to secure financing for the franchise fee, startup costs, payroll costs and any other initial payment you may need to make to get your restaurant up and running.

Because of this, starting a Pizza Hut franchise could be a little more financially accessible than you initially imagined. However, Pizza Hut doesn't have veteran-specific financial incentives, unlike many other fast food franchisors.

Related: Do Your Homework: A Pizza Hut Franchise Shares the Steps He Took When Researching His Franchise

What are the training requirements for opening a Pizza Hut franchise?

To successfully run your Pizza Hut franchise, you must complete an initial training program in Plano, Texas. This includes attending one-on-one meetings with designated Pizza Hut functional leaders, in-restaurant training, completing pizza prep classes at or near the Pizza Hut corporate headquarters and other training. 

This all totals approximately 320 to 480 hours of on-the-job training and another 43 to 45 hours of classroom training.

The training program, "First Slice," includes an onboarding checklist. The good news is that the training program and checklist are so comprehensive that you'll feel well-prepared and ready to run your franchise successfully when you complete it. 

You should finish the training portion of the program within 3 to 4 weeks before opening your system restaurant.

Plus, Pizza Hut offers all franchisees on-site training or assistance at any time. So, for example, if you hire a new batch of employees for your franchise location, you can contact Pizza Hut corporate and ensure that those new employees are trained to top capabilities.

Related: 5 Things You Need to Know Before You Buy a Pizza Hut Franchise

Start a Pizza Hut franchise today

Anyone can start a successful Pizza Hut franchise. If you’re interested in running a hands-on business and enjoying a practically recession-proof enterprise, consider starting a Pizza Hut franchise today.

Check out Entrepreneur’s other guides and articles for more information about Pizza Hut and other franchise opportunities.