Pizza Hut chain announces its departure from Greece

The Pizza Hut restaurant chain announced its decision to cease operating in Greece and shut down all 16 of its restaurants as of Thursday, saying that the chain's activities were no longer sustainable in the wake of the pandemic.

"The company made great efforts in previous years to return the stores to positive operation and growth rates," sources at the company told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency. "In the last 12 years and despite continued years of financial losses, it invested 23 million euros in the development of the chain in Greece, while over the last decade it created and secured more than 450 jobs. Unfortunately, the coronavirus pandemic, which created an unprecedented crisis for our country and worldwide, has placed a heavy toll on the restaurant sector and led to a worsening of existing difficulties and an inability to turn the bad climate around," the sources said.

Pizza Hut had incurred significant losses as a result of the lockdown, which multiplied the already difficult challenges and making the endeavour unsustainable, they added, noting that this was not confined to Greece. "A few days ago, NPC International, one of the largest franchisees of Pizza Hut in the United States went bankrupt due to the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic," the sources pointed out.