Pizza Hut Islington

Pizza Hut’s U.K. Restaurants Have Restructuring on the Menu | Eater London

"A long-established pan-pizza chain with about 240 U.K. restaurants and roughly 5,700 U.K. employees, it helped popularize pan pizza after its first outlet opened in Islington in 1973 and later became part of PepsiCo before being spun out into Yum! Brands. The brand is known for its all-you-can-eat buffet at family events (now replaced by a table-service “bluffet”), but the pandemic has exposed underlying weaknesses: advisers Alvarez & Marsal have been appointed to restructure the business and there is a distinct possibility of a company voluntary arrangement that could close many sites. The chain’s franchise-heavy model and recent private-equity ownership have left fractures—illustrated by allegations that a franchise owner failed to pay or furlough dozens of staff—which highlight how franchising can create gaps in worker protections even when the parent company claims to have entered lockdown from a “position of strength.”" - James Hansen