The Pizza Hut on East Broad Avenue in Rockingham and on South Main Street in Laurinburg were among the casualties of one of the largest franchisees of the pizza chain filing for bankruptcy in July.
NPC International, which owns about 1,200 Pizza Huts nationwide under Yum Brands, agreed to close up to 300 Pizza Hut locations and sell 927 as part of the Chapter 11 filing. The company’s growth was stable through April and May, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, but NPC in particular had been struggling for years under $1 billion of debt, CNBC reported.
It’s unclear when the Rockingham Pizza Hut officially closed. A call to the main line was answered by a recording stating that the restaurant has closed. The Laurinburg Pizza Hut has closed as well, and a recorded message greets callers. The nearest Pizza Hut to Rockingham is now on East Caswell Street in Wadesboro; for Scotland County residents, the closest Pizza Hut is on Fayetteville Road in Lumberton.
A statement on the company’s website reads, “We’ve made the difficult decision, together with certain franchisees, to close a limited number of locations in the U.S.” The website states that there are more than 6,700 locations operating in the country.
A Pizza Hut spokesperson told CNBC in August that employees would be moved to better-performing locations when possible.
The lot where the Pizza Hut sat, 1300 East Broad Ave., is owned by the C.F. Smith Property Group. A representative for C.F. Smith did not respond to a question about the future of the building by press time.
Reach Gavin Stone at 910-817-2673 or gstone@yourdailyjournal.com.