Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Pizza Hut Downsizing Hits Buckhead

Pizza Hut Downsizing Hits Buckhead

Plano, Texas-based Pizza Hut will soon close their Sidney Marcus @ Piedmont Road full service "Hut" in favor of a smaller, inline location not far away.  The dated restaurant was remodeled a few years ago and saw the addition of WingStreet but was simply too large an operation to keep open in its current location.  Continuing the company's plans to reduce its number of dated and at this point, unnecessarily large "Hut" locations of the late 60s and early 70s, the pizza chain is closing many of these locations nationwide.  This was done earlier with locations in Tucker and Decatur.  In each case, large full service restaurants were closed and smaller, takeout locations were opened not far away.  The Tucker location was demolished in favor of a new Chipotle Mexican Grill while at Suburban Plaza, the hut remains intact, but is now home to Cozy Burger Town.

Pizza Hut's Buckhead location will be razed for what I'm told will be a Chase Bank.  The new Pizza Hut will open in Peachtree Plaza on Peachtree Road.  The space, in the same shopping center as the White House, will be renovated from retail to restaurant and should open late in the first quarter of next year.

Back in the day, Pizza Hut did well with sit down patrons and its buffet in some locations.  Today, however, the bulk of the pizza chain's business comes from take out and delivery orders.  Realizing this, the company is shifting from its large scale, full service restaurants to much smaller locations, often in shopping centers, preferably in endcaps, with easy access and clear visibility.

Pizza Hut is, of course, one third of the fast food trifecta known as Yum! Brands, the largest fast food restaurant operator by number of units, with nearly 40,000 locations.  Other Yum! concepts include KFC and Taco Bell.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I always called that location a Ghetto Hut.

Just really dirty, nasty.

I stopped by a few times to pick up a pie and there was trash on the floor and you had to get a key to use the restrooms.

No surprise it's closing.

Amy said...

Disappointed in your lack of correct knowledge here! They are opening in Peachtree Plaza, not Buckhead Plaza. They are not doing poorly there yet the site is leased by the franchisee and the franchisor (Pizza Hut International) who owns the property was apporached to sell the site and decided it was a good idea.

Atlantan99 said...

Hello Amy,

Thank you for reading the blog and taking the time to comment. I appreciate your comments and value your feedback.

My apologies on the incorrect naming of the shopping center, that was my careless mistake and it has been corrected. As for the success of the Pizza Hut, I stand by my assertion that the location was too big for current dine-in business and it made business sense to move. I agree with you that the space / land is likely valuable and if approached, PHI would be wise to sell / vacate.

Thanks again for reading and for your comments.

tim said...

any idea who owns that prime, yet decrepit plot of land just south of that pizza hut and the chikfila, or if there are any future plans to do SOMETHING, ANYTHING with it? that right there is pure, unfettered atlanta in it's most refined form. an expensive, well done TOD right next door to a disgustingly underused plot.

Atlantan99 said...

Hey Tim,

I think the parcel you are thinking of is the former Shoney's. I know the land owner want plenty for that parcel and most recently I heard their may be plans for an office building there. Great piece of CRE for somebody.

Thanks for reading the blog and for the comments.

tim said...

thanks for the response! that's good to hear even if i don't live in the area currently.

SB said...

Saw the closed Pizza Hut today which made me go back to this post.

That land where the Shoney's was is/was owned by Carter Real Estate and Harold Dawson, 2 local real estate developers In 2008 they were trying to build at least 1 high rise condo building there -- 10+ floors, sort of like the one in front of LA Fitness at Peachtree and Piedmont. My company was among many asked to help finance it. No chance. Eventually it'll be midrise apartments like the one across the street that completed in 2008.

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