Our Story
In 1958, Frank and Dan Carney were students at Wichita State University, in Wichita, Kansas, USA. Dan, at 25, was working on his master's degree in Business Administration and Frank was a 19-year-old undergraduate thinking of a career in Electrical Engineering. They worked evenings and weekends in the family grocery store when, as Frank recalls...
“... our landlady became concerned about complaints she was getting on the clientele of the tavern next to our family's grocery store. She wanted a nice neighbourhood business to occupy her building. Having read an article on the growing popularity of pizza in the Saturday Evening Post, she approached Dan and me with the idea of opening a pizza place in her building. Although pizza was relatively unknown in Wichita at the time, we decided that it just might work."
On June 13, 1958 the first Pizza Hut Restaurants opened. By September it was grossing $700 to $800 a week, by December, over $1,000 a week Pizza Hut restaurants number two and three soon followed.
Franchising began in 1959 when Dick Hassur, Manager of Pizza Hut Unit No. 3 signed the first Franchise Agreement. For a fee, he would have the right to use the Pizza Hut name and 'secret' recipes. He also would receive management assistance from the Carneys.
Pizza Hut Restaurants were patterned for growth. In 14 years (1958-1972) franchise and company Restaurants numbered 1,000. In the next three years (1972-1977) they numbered 3,000.
Home delivery is a fast growing segment of the pizza market worldwide, and Pizza Hut Delivery was developed in 1985 to compete aggressively in this highly competitive market.
Today, Pizza Hut is the largest pizza chain in the world with more than 12,000 Pizza Hut Restaurants and Delivery Units operating worldwide. Approximately 325 stores are located in Australia.
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Yum!
Formerly known as PepsiCo Restaurants, Yum! Restaurants was formed on October 7th 1997. Yum! Global Restaurants declared their independence from PepsiCo and made a commitment to be the highest performing Restaurant Company in the world.
Today we are the largest restaurant company in the world with over 33,000 stores in 90 countries and still growing.
Our Leaders and Commitment to Customer Satisfaction
Yum! recognises our Restaurant General Managers as our number one leaders. While our executive team set strategies and allocate resources, it is the Restaurant General Managers who build the teams in our Restaurants that satisfy our customers.
In Australia, Yum! Restaurants employs over 10,700 people who help ensure our Restaurants operate effectively and our customers get the service and product they deserve.
Yum! Restaurants International operate on the following principles:
Yum! Restaurants Australia's goal is to be leading CHAMPS market in the Yum! world. CHAMPS is the program all our staff work by, a way in which they can see how they are performing in their job. We recognise those who are doing a great job, providing customer satisfaction and performing to company expectations, by the following CHAMPS categories:
- Cleanliness
- Hospitality
- Accuracy
- Maintenance
- Product
- Speed of Service
Human Resources
At Yum! Restaurants, our people are our most valuable resource. Most of our staff commence work with Yum! Restaurants in our stores, serving our customers. We provide structured on the job training that can see our staff, through hard work and dedication, move through the ranks. Currently, many of our Pizza Hut managers started as delivery drivers and most of our KFC managers started as team members. This means our managers understand our business from “the ground up” and the importance of Customer Service to our company. With our focus on training and development, the same trends will continue with Pizza Hut, KFC, Taco Bell and A&W.