Pizza Sales Are Growing Amid The Pandemic, But Pizza Hut Is Closing Restaurants

Pizza sales have soared during the pandemic as consumers look for alternative ways to feed their family as dining rooms across many states remain closed.

In Q2 2020, Papa Johns reported a comparable sales increase of 28% in North America, while Dominos saw its same-store sales jump 17.5% for the third quarter of the year. Papa Johns will report its third-quarter earnings on Nov. 5.

Even Yum! Brands’ (YUM) Pizza Hut saw a same-store sales growth of 6% for the third quarter over last year.

But despite the increase in sales for Pizza Hut, the company closed 672 restaurants in the third quarter alone, National Restaurant News reported. Of these closures, more than half came from franchisee NPC International, which filed Chapter 11 in July.

“We consented to up to 300 mutually selected closures of underperforming and primarily dine-in stores,” Chief Financial Officer Chris Turner told investors during the company’s third-quarter conference call on Thursday (via National Restaurant News). “These closures are largely complete.”

Consumers have shifted toward takeout and delivery orders, which prompted Papa Johns to hire as many as 10,000 additional workers to keep up with demand, it announced in July. Dominos announced in August, it would hire 20,000 new employees for a variety of positions to also meeting the increased demand.

Yum! Brands CEO Gibbs remains encouraged, saying that the third-quarter results demonstrate “resilience” amid the pandemic.

“Our employees, franchisees and restaurant team members continued to adapt to this year's ever-changing environment while also accelerating progress on our digital and technology journey. Importantly, our balance sheet and liquidity position are strong and franchisee health improved.

“I’m confident that by continuing to leverage our unmatched scale and champion the technology-centric customer experience, we will drive global growth, enhance unit-level economics and maximize long-term value for all of our stakeholders,” he added.

Yum! Brands, which also operates KFC, Taco Bell, and Habit Burger, had 3,995 U.S. locations at the end of Q3, National Restaurant News said.

Shares of Yum! Brands were trading at $93.49 as of 11:53 a.m. EDT, up $1.45 or 1.53%.