It’s been three and a half years since Pizza Hut first entered the African market, opening its first restaurant in Johannesburg, South Africa with ambitious pan-African expansion plans. Now, the world’s largest pizza restaurant company, a division of global giant Yum! Brands Inc, is celebrating the opening of its 100th store in Sub-Saharan Africa in the historic Ghandi Square, Johannesburg. Pizza Hut restaurants now trade in 13 Sub-Saharan African countries, with an additional 90 stores in Morocco, Egypt and Algeria, bringing the total to 190 across the African continent.
This aggressive growth in Africa reflects the untapped opportunities offered by emerging markets for the world’s largest and fastest growing pizza chain, which already has over 16,700 restaurants in more than 100 countries, more than any other pizza company.
General Manager of Pizza Hut Africa, Ewan Davenport, says, “We are on track with the African growth story we started in September 2014 and we are hugely proud of our progress. As we expand our footprint in these markets, we continue to add and develop strong local supply chain partners so that we can bring our top quality, affordable pizza to customers in African regions where pizza is not as prevalent as elsewhere in the world. We believe everyone deserves to experience the power of truly great pizza. Pizza Hut’s accessibility and quality means we are fast becoming Africa’s pizza brand of choice.”
South Africa’s Gauteng and Western Cape provinces currently have the most restaurants within Sub-Saharan Africa. Hot, free and fast delivery for online orders was recently successfully launched in the competitive South African market and Davenport says this will be available in African markets in the near future. “We’re ensuring that we bring our high global standards and full offering, including online ordering, to all our restaurants in Africa.”
The Pizza Hut Africa team celebrated with 100th restaurant franchisor Chirag Madhu this Thursday at the modern new Ghandi Square restaurant. “We’re excited to be bringing the 
Pizza Hut experience to this bustling part of central town,” says Madhu. “I believe people all over the country are eager to have the unique deep pan base and abundance of pizza toppings available right in their neighbourhoods. I’m looking forward to great success as we work hard to make it easier to get great tasting pizza in the restaurant, or through online ordering for carry out and delivery.”
Davenport says, “We started our journey in Johannesburg and it feels great that our 100th Sub-Saharan Africa store is opening here now. With many more stores to follow, we’ve just scratched the surface of growth. We’re passionate about bringing Pizza Hut pizza to Africa by accelerating our expansion across the continent. We are prepped, ready and looking forward to developing Pizza Hut restaurants in more African countries, ultimately making us not only the largest Pizza Brand in the world, but also on the African continent.”
In another exciting launch, Davenport and his Slice of Africa team will visit restaurants in 14 cities in 12 African countries in 22 days this April in the shape of a great, big pizza slice to mark the launch of Pizza Hut: The African Literacy Project. They will launch a customer donation campaign to change simple pizza boxes into Red Reading Boxes in Africa as part of Pizza Hut’s global initiative to get children reading.
For more information about Pizza Hut’s African Literacy Project and to keep track of Pizza Hut news, please click here.
About Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut, a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE: YUM), has more restaurant locations in the world than any other pizza company. Founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kan., Pizza Hut operates over 16,700 restaurants in more than 100 countries.
Pizza Hut is also the proprietor of The Literacy Project, an initiative designed to enable access, empower teachers and inspire a lifelong love of reading. The program is rooted in the foundation set by the Pizza Hut BOOK IT! Program in the U.S., which is the longest-running corporate supported literacy program, impacting more than 14 million students each year. For more information, visit www.pizzahut.com.
