National Restaurant Chain With MD Eateries Closing Hundreds Of Locations

A national restaurant chain with a prominent Maryland presence is planning to shutter 250 eateries this year.

Pizza Hut is closing what it deems underperforming locations across the country in the first half of this year. The announcement came from Pizza Hut's parent company, Yum! Brands, in an earnings call Wednesday.

Yum! Chief Financial Officer Ranjith Roy said the move was part of “Hut Forward,” a strategy which includes “vibrant marketing, modernization of technology and franchise agreements.”

"The 250 stores that we mentioned is a very small portion of the 20,000-unit estate that Pizza Hut has globally," Roy said during the call, "and it is the right answer for the brand as we move through the strategic review."

Yum! did not announce which specific Pizza Hut locations will be closing.

According to the Pizza Hut website, the chain operates 61 locations in Maryland. Baltimore and Silver Springs are tied to house the most Pizza Hut eateries with eight sites each.

Of the 19,872 Pizza Hut locations globally, about 6,300 are located in the United States, according to Restaurant Dive.

Yum! also operates KFC, Taco Bell and Habit Burger and Grill.