Pizza Hut Makes Big Business Move And Buys 56 Wendy’s Restaurants

Pizza Hut is on a roll. The popular franchise has decided to buy another large franchise — Wendy’s. Pizza Hut announced today that they are planning to buy 56 Wendy restaurants under NPC International.

As it just so happens, NPC International entered into an agreement with Carlisle Corporation and its affiliates. One of those affiliates includes 56 Wendy’s restaurants. In this agreement, NPC will part take in a $58.2 million transaction which allows the company to own properties.

Pizza Hut comes into this because the chain is currently operated by NPC International, which acts as the world’s largest franchisee. According to Restaurant News, NPC has agreed that they will remodel acquired restaurants, which includes Wendy’s new Image Activation format.

“The acquisition will be funded with $40.0 million of incremental term loan borrowings, borrowings from the Company’s undrawn $110.0 million revolving credit facility, and cash on hand. The restaurants will be owned and operated by NPC’s wholly-owned subsidiary, NPC Quality Burgers, Inc., which entered into the asset purchase agreement to acquire the restaurants.”

The CEO of NPC International, Jim Schwartz said of the new deal:

“We are excited to expand our presence in the Wendy’s system and to establish a toe-hold in the Mid-Atlantic region from which we can grow. We are also fortunate to be acquiring these stores from the Carlisle Corporation, a long tenured, well respected and continuing Wendy’s operator.”

He continued further discussing their continued relationship with Wendy’s:

“This acquisition will be our fourth acquisition in the Wendy’s system since our initial foray into the system in July of last year. Our Wendy’s holdings, including this acquisition, will total 146 restaurants with revenues approaching 15% of our total consolidated revenues.”

In other Pizza Hut news, it looks like consumers are really happy with the chain restaurant. Pizza Hut tied for the top spot in limited-service restaurant chains with none other than Papa Johns International.

The American Customer Satisfaction chairman Claes Fornell said of the news:

“In a weaker economy, consumers respond to price, but as the economy improves, quality becomes more important to restaurant customers. This is good news for smaller chains and individual restaurants, which customers associate with higher quality food and better service.”

Right behind Pizza Hut and Papa John’s were Panera Bread and Chipotle Mexican Grill. The rest of the 12 restaurants were ranked into the “all others” category. According to the official website, the organization surveys 70,000 consumers on an annual basis.

[Image via Bing]