Another chain restaurant with a long history in Jacksonville has closed it’s doors.
The Pizza Hut restaurant located at 818 West Morton Avenue was one of 18 stores who had their doors officially closed on Tuesday by upper management. Locations in Jerseyville, Taylorville, Godfrey were also among those who got the ax in the wake of bankruptcy proceedings of one of Pizza Hut’s largest franchisees.
NPC International, filed for Chapter 11 in July, and on Monday announced an agreement Yum! Brands, the parent company of Pizza Hut to close approximately one quarter NPC International restaurants and sell remaining stores.
In all, nearly 300 stores nationwide will be getting the ax from then NPC and Yum! Brands agreement, including the 18 that were shuttered in Illinois on Tuesday.
A member of the Jacksonville location’s management team who spoke with WLDS late Tuesday on condition of anonymity, said their boss was informed by upper management on Monday, of a conference call slated for 8 am Tuesday where the announcement of the multiple closures was then made.
The now former employee who has worked at the location for over ten years, says employees were each called following the conference call announcement and were informed the location was going to be closed effective at 9:00 am.
The Jacksonville location follows the shuttering of the Ponderosa buffet which did not reopen when the state moved out of Phase 3 of the Restore Illinois plan. The Pizza Hut of Jacksonville employee says that business had fallen off in the wake of the reopening of indoor eating establishments, however as of last week, they had been assured by immediate upper management that the Jacksonville location would not be one of the stores slated to close.
Approximately twelve people were employed at the restaurant chain’s location in Jacksonville. A sign taped to the front door Tuesday says simply “We’re sorry! This restaurant has closed” and instructs the reader to “Visit pizzahut.com for locations near you!”
