A giant in the pizza industry, Frank Carney, along with older brother, Dan, founded the Pizza Hut chain in Wichita, Kansas, in 1958, as a single location in Wichita, Kansas. They established the first pizzeria at the request of a landlord who had an unrented building. When a friend suggested opening a pizza parlor - then a rarity – they agreed that the idea could prove successful, and they borrowed $600 from their mother to start a business with partner John Bender. Renting a small building at 503 south Bluff in downtown Wichita and purchasing secondhand equipment to make pizzas, the Carneys and Bender opened the first Pizza Hut restaurant; on opening night, they gave pizza away to encourage community interest.
Despite their lack of basic knowledge about pizza and business in general, Frank and Dan Carney by 1977 had molded their business into an empire of more 4,000 outlets with annual sales in the billions.
Six months later they opened a second outlet and within a year they had six Pizza Hut restaurants. The brothers began franchising in 1959.
In the early 1960’s Pizza Hut grew on the strength of aggressive marketing of the pizza restaurant idea. In 1962, the Carney brothers bought out the interest held by Bender, and Robert Chisholm joined the company as treasurer. In 1966, when the number of Pizza Hut franchise units had grown to 145, a home office was established to coordinate the businesses from Wichita. In 1968, the first international Pizza Hut opened in Canada. That same year Pizza Hut went to the open market with a public offering. In 1971, it became the world leader in pizza sales and number of restaurants.
Pizza Hut was sold in 1977 to PepsiCo Inc. for more than $300 billion, although Frank stayed on as Pizza Hut president and a member of the PepsiCo board until 1980. Frank stayed in the pizza business, helping John Schnatter found and run Papa John's and becoming a Papa John's franchisee in 1994. By 2001 Frank owned 133 Papa John's locations, eventually selling his franchise to Terry Newman.
Frank Carney: Co-Founder of Pizza Hut
