Major Pizza Hut Franchise Closures as Owner Files for Bankruptcy

Franchise Owner EYM Group Files for Bankruptcy

EYM Group, the fran­chisee that oper­ates 127 Piz­za Hut restau­rants across Illi­nois, Geor­gia, South Car­oli­na, and Wis­con­sin, has filed for Chap­ter 11 bank­rupt­cy protection.

This move comes as the com­pa­ny owes Piz­za Hut’s par­ent com­pa­ny, Yum Brands, over $2 mil­lion in unpaid bills.

Dispute Between EYM and Pizza Hut

The finan­cial trou­bles for EYM Group stem from an ongo­ing dis­pute with Piz­za Hut. EYM has blamed the chain for not mod­ern­iz­ing its menus and app to keep up with com­peti­tors like Domi­no’s and Lit­tle Cae­sar’s, lead­ing to declin­ing sales.

Pizza Hut Moves to Shutter Restaurants

As part of the dis­pute, Piz­za Hut has set dead­lines for EYM to pay its out­stand­ing debts in each state where the fran­chisee operates. 

When EYM failed to meet the June 12 dead­line for Indi­ana, the chain moved to shut­ter 15 loca­tions in that state.

The Wider Impact on the Restaurant Industry

The strug­gles faced by EYM Group and Piz­za Hut are indica­tive of the broad­er chal­lenges impact­ing the restau­rant industry. 

Chains across the coun­try have been grap­pling with ris­ing costs and declin­ing cus­tomer traf­fic, lead­ing to sig­nif­i­cant clo­sures and bankruptcies.