Atlanta businesswoman Lisa Albert has finalized a deal to acquire the 24 Pizza Hut restaurants in the Baton Rouge market from the restaurant chain’s parent company and will take ownership of the establishments on March 20. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.
Albert has considerable experience as a franchisee. She previously owned 25 Hardee’s outlets in several markets throughout the southeast.
Pizza Hut’s parent company, Yum Brands, announced plans last fall to put more of its restaurants in the hands of franchisees in order to boost savings and sales. The company, which also owns KFC and Taco Bell, said it plans to shrink its company-owned restaurants from 10,000 to fewer than 1,000 by the end of 2018.
The 24 restaurants in Albert’s territory stretch across the Capital Region, from Gonzales to New Roads. Most of the restaurants have recently been renovated and several are newly opened, she says. Albert says she also plans to open three additional Pizza Hut locations in the market—one on Plank Road, one in St. Francisville and one in St. Martinville—over the next couple years.
Albert says the corporate decision to sell off the restaurants to franchisees dovetailed with her desire to get in on the brand, which she believes is strong. As for the Baton Rouge market, she says it’s an ideal location for the restaurants because it’s a growing market that does well in the quick service and fast casual restaurant categories.
“The trends in the Baton Rouge market are very good,” she says. “Besides, pizza does very well throughout the southeast.”
All of the restaurants Albert is buying are in leased locations. The company did not own any of the real estate in which its local restaurants are located.
In the 1990s and 2000s, all of the market’s Pizza Hut restaurants were owned by New Orleans-based franchisee Larry Lundy. His company fell on hard times after Hurricane Katrina, however, and he became embroiled in a lawsuit with the parent company, which shut down all 44 of his New Orleans and Baton Rouge locations in 2011. Over the next few years, the company spent more than $10 million establishing new state-of-the-art restaurants in the two markets, including those being purchased by Albert.
—Stephanie Riegel
