Pizza, Photo: Liv Friis Larsen | Dreamstime.com
The company that operates the KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell brands in Romania and KFC restaurants in the Republic of Moldova and in Italy in a franchise system, announced that it has decided to close seven Pizza Hut restaurants, units that recorded poor financial results, reports News.ro.
“The management of Sphera Franchise Group SA informs about the following events / measures at the level of the company American Restaurant System SA, the subsidiary of the Group that operates in Romania the brands Pizza Hut® and Pizza Hut Delivery®. In continuation of the process of operational efficiency and consolidation of the restaurant network, which took place in the period 2023-2024, the management of the group, together with that of American Restaurant System SA, decided to close seven Pizza Hut restaurants, units that recorded operational performances under expectations and a significant negative impact on financial results. The decision is based on the evolution of the economic and consumption context, marked, starting from July 2025, by the liberalization and increase of prices on the energy market, the adoption of new fiscal measures, the increase of the VAT rate, as well as a slowdown in private consumption, by adopting a more prudent behavior in the new economic conditions”, announced the group, in a statement sent to the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB).
Although the financial results in the first six months of 2025 were on a favorable trajectory, the new economic context generated additional pressures on operating costs and margins.
The restaurants to be closed had a significant cumulative negative contribution to EBITDA.
The group estimates that the existing demand will be covered by operational units in the network, without significant impact on customers' access to Pizza Hut products and services.
“The group aims for the streamlining of the restaurant network to have as little impact as possible on the employees, for whom relocation options will be offered within the Sphera Franchise Group network. The management estimates that the closure of these non-performing units will have a positive impact on operational profitability, by eliminating recurring losses and optimizing the cost structure,” the group states.
Pizza Hut recorded an operating loss in restaurants of 1 million lei in the first nine months of 2025, compared to an operating loss of 326,000 lei recorded the previous year.
As of September 30, 2025, Sphera Franchise Group operated 176 restaurants: 110 KFC restaurants in Romania, 3 in the Republic of Moldova and 17 in Italy, as well as 28 Pizza Hut restaurants in Romania, 16 Taco Bell restaurants in Romania, 1 Cioccolatitaliani restaurant in Italy and a Pizza Hut Delivery sub-franchise.
In the first nine months of 2025, group sales increased by 0.7%, reaching 1.151 billion lei. The 46.7% decrease in net profit in the first three quarters of 2025, up to 38 million lei, was determined by the impact of several factors: high level of operating expenses, especially those with salaries and other operating expenses, stagnant sales on Sphera's main activity market – Romania, margin reduction and a 26.5% decrease in EBITDA, which reached 94.8 million lei.
On September 30, 2025, the group had 4,944 employees, of which 4,442 in Romania, 404 in Italy and 98 in the Republic of Moldova.
Photo source: Dreamstime.com
