Food & Beverage

Pizza Hut co-founder dead at 82

December 3, 2020 | The first Pizza Hut in Wichita, Kansas. (GNU free documentation license)

Frank Carney, the man who worked with his brother to start Pizza Hut in Wichita, Kansas 62 years ago, died Dec. 2 at 82 of pneumonia, the Wichita Eagle reported. The family told the newspaper that though Carney had recently recovered from COVID-19, he perished after contracting the respiratory illness.

Carney and his brother, Dan, started the company, when Frank was a 19-year-old Wichita State University student near their family's grocery store in the city.

The first Hut grew to a multi-million dollar chain that PepsiCo purchased in 1977 for $300 million, though the company is now owned by Yum Brands in Louisville, Kentucky.

In fact, when PepsiCo opted to relocate the chain's headquarters to Dallas during its ownership, Carney became a Papa John's franchisee, competing with the chain he started in Wichita, the paper said.

When Pizza Marketplace reached Pizza Hut this morning, a company's spokesperson released this statement:

"The impact of Frank Carney's entrepreneurship — and his decision to open the first Pizza Hut with his brother, Dan, in 1958 — can be felt by anyone with an appreciation for the brand's iconic red roofs and delicious pizzas. His legacy will live on in big cities and small towns across the country and around the world, in restaurants that for decades have brought people together and serve as a testament to his vision for the brand and his success as a business leader. We extend our deepest sympathies to the Carney family."