Over 120 Pizza Hut restaurants in five states could close after franchisee EYM Pizza, which filed for bankruptcy this summer, announced it is selling its Pizza Hut locations as part of restructuring.
The franchisee group’s 127 Pizza Hut restaurants are located in llinois, Indiana, Georgia, South Carolina and Wisconsin.
15 of EYM’s Pizza Hut locations in Indiana were closed this summer following termination of franchise agreements – they remain closed.
The group entered a legal struggle with Pizza Hut earlier this year and subsequently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June.
The group is working with National Franchise Sales (NFS) to identify buyers and facilitate the sale of the restaurants.
According to the Franchise Times, Lead Adviser for the NFS Recovery Team, Alan Gullup, said that EYM had been able to shed some “undesirable locations” and that he expected to see a “very reasonable level of interest” in the remaining units.
“The stores were shaken a little bit in terms of top-line sales over the summer, given the issues between the franchisee and franchisor,” he said.
However, he added that he is hopeful of finding qualified buyers and believes that Pizza Hut is “an attractive segment”.
EYM Pizza is part of the EYM Group, which is also a KFC, Panera and Denny’s franchisee.
Sister company EYM Chicken also closed more than 20 of its KFC stores in three states last month.
