News

Pizza Hut announces African expansion plans

September 18, 2014

Pizza Hut Thursday announced the opening of its first restaurant in Africa with its Johannesburg, South Africa, opening. The company said the brand's entry into this market is part of its focus on emerging markets.

"Africa is an emerging continent with more than 1 billion people and endless possibilities for us to grow Pizza Hut over the long-term," CEO Scott Bergren said in a news release. "We're pleased to bring Pizza Hut to South Africa and look forward to expanding the brand in other African countries in the future. We've just scratched the surface of growth and we're aggressively accelerating Pizza Hut's development across the Delivery, Express, and Dine-In channels globally."

The new Johannesburg Pizza Hut features digital menu boards and free Wi-Fi as well as online ordering and delivery. In addition to the brand's signature menu items, it also features localized products such as Boerewors sausage and pizza made with Peri-Peri sauce.

"South Africa is a huge opportunity for Pizza Hut with its rapidly growing middle class and progressive consumers who love pizza," Randall Blackford, general manager, Pizza Hut Africa, said in the release. "We have a great team that knows how to do business in South Africa and we're confident that it can become a sizeable business for Pizza Hut in the future."

Throughout the next three years, Pizza Hut plans to open "dozens of stores" in South Africa, including more this year. The company considers the country to be a "stepping stone" into the rest of the continent.

Pizza Hut will take cues from its sister chain KFC's expansion model in Africa, with sights on Namibia, Angola and Zambia in the next year.

According to Bloomberg, Pizza Hut had a presence in South Africa in 2008, but with a dine-in focus.