Pizza Hut has temporarily dropped Pizza from its name, rebranding simply as Hut for 25 weeks to coincide with the 2026 NFL season. Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy praised the move as a brilliant marketing strategy while parent company Yum! Brands finalizes a multibillion-dollar sale of the iconic pizza chain.
Plano, Texas Rebrand for the 2026 NFL Season
You can just call us HUT for the next 25 weeks, Pizza Hut wrote in a social media post announcing the temporary rebrand. The branding isn’t permanent, with Pizza returning to the name after the 25-week football promotion ends. The company showed off the change at a restaurant in Plano, Texas, where a banner featuring a football covered the word Pizza on the restaurant’s exterior sign. Pizza Hut, which is headquartered in Plano, also changed its social media profile images to a logo without the word Pizza, and the chain’s social media accounts all simply read Hut as well.
The One Bite pizza reviewer and Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy threw his support behind Yum! Brands’ campaign to temporarily rebrand Pizza Hut, praising the pizza chain’s strategic marketing move as brilliant while pitching company executives on directing advertising dollars toward Barstool Sports during football season.
Portnoy氏は金曜日の「Varney & Co.」番組内で、最初はあまり理解できなかったものの、Stuart、こう言わせてもらうが、我々はピザハットと取引をしており、彼らにバーツールへ多額のお金を投じてもらいたいと考えているため、これは素晴らしい一手だと思うと述べ、それを考え出した人が誰であれ気に入っていると語った。
Portnoy氏はさらに、彼らは賢く考えており、今はフットボールシーズンであり、「Hut」と描かれたフットボールがそこにあって、彼らはこのメッセージを広めていくだろうとし、混乱が生じないよう状況を人々に知らせるために、フットボールを扱う新しいメディア媒体を見つけて、広告費を少し投じる必要があるかもしれないと続け、FOX Businessの司会者であるStuart Varney氏が、そしてバーツール・スポーツはピザ事業のいくらかを獲得するのに理想的な立場にあるわけだね、と返すと、ポートノイ氏は、当然じゃないか！と応じた。
LongRange Capital and Yum China Holdings $2.7 Billion Sale
The football-themed marketing push comes at a pivotal time for Pizza Hut, as parent company Yum! Brands moves ahead with plans to sell the iconic restaurant chain. Yum! recently announced that it sold Pizza Hut in a pair of deals worth $2.7 billion. Pizza Hut, excluding Mainland China, will be sold to private equity firm LongRange Capital for approximately $1.5 billion, while the Chinese operations will be sold to Yum China Holdings for an estimated $1.2 billion. Yum! expects approximately $2.3 billion in net proceeds from the transactions.
FOX Business reported in June that Yum! was in exclusive talks with private equity firm LongRange Capital over a potential sale of Pizza Hut. LongRange emerged as a potential buyer after Apollo Global Management and Sycamore Partners were also reported to have explored bids for the chain.
Yum! CEOのChris Turner氏は、LongRangeおよびYum中国の下で、ピザハットはレストラン業界における深い専門知識をもたらすオーナーシップにより、将来の成長に向けてしっかりと位置づけられることになると述べ、ピザハットはチームメンバー、従業員、そしてフランチャイズ加盟店の情熱と献身によって築き上げられてきたものであり、次の章を迎えることに胸を躍らせていると語った。
Declining U.S. Comparable Sales and 2026 Store Closures
The sale follows a prolonged period of pressure on Pizza Hut’s U.S. business. FOX Business reported in June, citing Reuters, that Pizza Hut generated about 12% of Yum!’s revenue in 2025 and had posted declining U.S. comparable sales for 10 consecutive quarters after years of declining sales. For the first quarter of 2026, Pizza Hut’s same store sales were down 4% and systemwide sales were down 6%.
In early 2026, Pizza Hut announced it was planning to close 250 stores in the U.S. by July 1. To aid in a turnaround, Pizza Hut franchisees have been bringing back iconic design elements like red roofs, vinyl booths, red cups and classic lighting at locations around the U.S. Founded in 1958 by brothers Dan and Frank Carney, the chain operates about 19,974 restaurants worldwide as of 2025.