Will Pizza Hut be next giant to disappear from the High Street? Future of restaurant in doubt after 50 years in the UK with soaring prices pushing it further into losses

• The fast-food chain admitted that they were heavily affected by the pandemic 

A debt crisis is looming for Pizza Hut after more than 50 years in Britain as they struggle to recover from the coronavirus pandemic amid soaring prices.

The fast-food chain admitted that they were heavily affected by the pandemic, which limited the demand for people dining in their restaurants.

And this has only been worsened by the war in Ukraine, which caused prices of energy, food and transportation to rocket.

The chain was founded in the US state of Kansas in 1958 and the first UK outlet opened in Islington, north London, in 1972. 

Since then, Pizza Hut soared in popularity and at its peak employed 10,000 workers in more than 260 restaurants up and down the country, serving three million guests a month.

A debt crisis is looming for Pizza Hut after more than 50 years in Britain as they struggle to recover from the coronavirus pandemic amid soaring prices. Above: Pizza Hut’s first outlet in Islington, which opened in 1973 

The Pizza Hut Restaurant On The Corner Of Church Street And Kensington High Street

Pizza Hut then changed its branding decades later as it grew in popularity

In the 1980s, the chain introduced pan pizza to its menu, which was at the heart of an unforgettable advert the following decade, starring a certain Gareth Southgate.

The England boss was seen sitting in a Pizza Hut restaurant with a brown paper bag on his head having missed a crucial penalty in the Euro 96 semi-final.

In the commercial, he was mocked by teammates Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle who shout ‘Miss, Miss, Miss’ at a waitress, before giggling ‘that’s pan pizza, unless I’m not mis-taken’.

In 1995, the chain rolled out its stuffed crust offering, before then introducing The Edge: a thin pizza with toppings all the way round the edge at the turn of the millennium. 

In an effort to provide a healthier option, Pizza Hut then began offering unlimited trips to its salad station, as well as a pizza with less than 500 calories.

In recent years, however, Pizza Hut has faced stiff competition from a host of other fast food outlets, including Domino’s and Papa John’s.

Now the group is in talks to refinance almost £31m of its £73m debt pile which it must repay by next April. 

However, Pizza Hut UK warned in its latest accounts that it may possibly still breach its loan agreements in a ‘severe but plausible downside scenario’, the Telegraph reports.

The company said: ‘Just as the omicron impacts began to ease, the outbreak of the war in Ukraine caused unprecedented and sustained inflation of energy, food and transportation costs.’ 

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