Just a year after being saved in a rescue deal, Pizza Hut has entered administration.
Pizza Hut is best known for its family-friendly casual dining style, as well as being a host to countless children’s parties.
Now, TheBusinessDesk has reported that the owners of the beloved pizza chain have appointed administrators.
Last year, 139 restaurants and 3,000 jobs in the UK were saved when Directional Capital purchased the flailing business.
Now, 75 dine-in restaurants and 741 jobs are at risk, as they weren’t part of the last-minute rescue deal.
In a statement, Pizza Hut said: ‘Today, we announce the acquisition of the Pizza Hut dine-in operations through a pre-packaged administration, after FTI was announced today as administrators of DC London Pie Limited, a franchisee of Pizza Hut dine-in restaurants.
‘We are pleased to secure the continuation of 64 sites to safeguard our guest experience and protect the associated jobs.
‘Approximately 2,259 team members will transfer to the new Yum! equity business, including above-restaurant leaders and support teams.’
This means that the takeaway locations aren’t affected – only the dine-in locations.
What does falling into administration mean?
When a firm goes into administration, it is a legal process in which an administrator is appointed by the directors, a creditor or the court. They take control of the company and everything it owns.
The administrator (a licensed insolvency practitioner) will first attempt to save the business. They also have the power to make any employees redundant.
If saving it isn’t possible, they will try to claw back as much money as possible for creditors without immediately winding it up.
According to the government’s Companies House, this could involve allowing the company to continue to trade for a period, while seeking to sell the business or assets, such as:
- content or websites.
- goodwill
- trademarks
- patents
- equipment
- the customer database
- software
If neither of the above options works, they can liquidate the company.