The first Pizza Hut (pictured) opened on June 15, 1958 in Wichita, Kansas. It was founded by two brothers, Dan and Frank Carney, both Wichita State students.
Six months later the brothers opened a second outlet and within a year they had six Pizza Hut restaurants. The brothers began franchising in 1959. It took just 10 years for their concept to grow to 300 locations.
The original Pizza Hut is now a museum located on the campus of Wichita State University. Inside the Original Pizza Hut Museum are several video presentations that feature personal stories from the Carney brothers about opening their first location. Another video features a former CEO about the growing pains of the company, while another video plays the first Pizza Hut commercial jingle.
Some of the featured items inside the museum include menus from various locations around the world and a hand-written recipe for their pizza sauce. The recipe was written on a napkin by Dan Carney.PepsiCo acquired Pizza Hut in November 1977. Twenty years later, Pizza Hut (alongside Taco Bell and Kentucky Fried Chicken) were spun off by PepsiCo on May 30, 1997, and all three restaurant chains became part of a new company named Tricon Global Restaurants, Inc. The company assumed the name of Yum! Brands on May 22, 2002.Today, there are over 18,700 Pizza Hut locations worldwide.
