The first Pizza Hut restaurant opened in 1958.
Brothers Dan and Frank Carney launched Pizza Hut on May 31, 1958, in Wichita, Kansas. Both were students at Wichita State University, and they borrowed $600 from their mother to open the small restaurant. A local real-estate agent had encouraged them to try pizza after offering them an available building.
The name “Pizza Hut” was partly practical: the building’s sign had room for only eight letters. The business expanded rapidly. A second location opened six months later, the brothers began franchising in 1959, and the chain had six outlets within its first year.
Pizza Hut’s familiar red-roof buildings came later, becoming part of the chain’s visual identity in the 1960s and especially the late 1960s. The company was acquired by PepsiCo in 1977 and later became part of Yum! Brands. The 1958 opening is sometimes confused with the date of the first franchise, but the original Wichita restaurant predates franchising by one year.