/PRZWT/On November 22, 2025, in Sanya Bay, Hainan Province, which is known as the "Coconut Dream Corridor", Pizza Hut held a grand milestone celebration for its 4,000th store in China. The opening of this store, which holds special significance, coincides with the 35th anniversary of Pizza Hut's entry into China, further consolidating Pizza Hut's market position as the "pizza expert".
At the celebration site, Ms. Joey Wat, CEO of Yum China, Mr. JeffKuai, General Manager of Pizza Hut Brand, and the management team of Yum China, together with the guests present, witnessed this crucial moment of Pizza Hut.
Ms. Qu Cuirong stated, "Pizza Hut will expand its territory with a more resolute belief, empower experiences with more cutting-edge technology, unite people's hearts with a more unique brand charm, and create brilliance with a more efficient operation system."
Attach importance to the consumption experience and the upgrade of smart stores
Coconut Dream Corridor is another name for "Sanya Bay", a famous seaside scenic avenue built around Sanya Bay. The 4,000th Pizza Hut store in China takes "White Sand and Waves · Seaside Sanctuary" as its theme, extracting the three major elements of "white sand texture, wave rhythm, and relaxing feeling of strolling on the beach" from Sanya's seaside, pushing the atmosphere of beauty and leisure to the extreme.
At the celebration event, Mr. JeffKuai, the general manager of Pizza Hut brand, said: Over the past 35 years, Pizza Hut has repeatedly weathered cycles with its outstanding team, brand power, product strength and digital capabilities, and has been fully prepared in terms of capabilities for "accelerated growth". It is precisely these all-round preparations that have enabled the brand to always resonate with the Chinese market and consumers.
The Sanya Bay No.1 restaurant of Pizza Hut, as an upgraded manifestation of Pizza Hut's smart restaurants, is the first to be equipped with a full-chain intelligent management system. By combining wearable equipment with the AI intelligent body Qrui, it achieves efficient management of "freeing hands and direct command", significantly enhancing the efficiency of personnel and service in the restaurant.
Currently, Qrui's voice inventory, voice product listing and delisting, voice call making, and voice emergency reminder functions have been implemented in the 4,000th Pizza Hut store in China, providing comprehensive support for the efficient operation of the store. The system functions will continue to be developed and improved in the future, and it is expected that all functions will be gradually realized within 1-2 years.
In addition, on the smart hardware in the stores, automated equipment such as "automatic feeding machines, automatic beverage machines, automatic deep fryers, and automatic dishwashers" were all applied for the first time in Pizza Hut's 4,000th store in China. Under the human-machine collaborative operation mode, Pizza Hut has greatly enhanced operational efficiency, ensured food safety, and reduced the operational burden on employees. Even during peak customer flow periods, it can easily handle order pressure and achieve a balance between efficiency and quality.
At the opening ceremony of Pizza Hut's 4,000th store in China and the 35th anniversary celebration, the intelligent robot "Asheng" also made a surprise appearance and engaged in witty exchanges with the host. It not only concretely demonstrates Pizza Hut's "intelligent" level, but also vividly interprets the brand's youthful and innovative vitality.
Deeply rooted in the Chinese market, pizza experts lead the new trend of the industry
In the Chinese market, Pizza Hut has maintained a strong growth momentum through continuous efficiency improvements.
The latest financial report of Yum China shows that the same-store transaction volume of Pizza Hut has increased by 17% year-on-year, achieving growth for the eleventh consecutive quarter. The net number of new stores added this quarter reached a record 158.
Looking back on its 35-year development in China, Pizza Hut has deeply integrated into the lives of Chinese consumers, developed its own "localized survival logic", and strived to balance and integrate China's local culture with the Western genes of pizza. The opening ceremony of this event also specially invited the Hainan Ethnic Song and Dance Troupe to perform the "Li Ethnic Group's Double Knife Dance with Money Bells".
All along, Pizza Hut has been practicing a "win-win-win pattern" of consumer satisfaction, brand value enhancement and industry collaboration. Through localized innovation, Pizza Hut has always hoped to explore the boundaries of its products in order to achieve new growth.
In 2024, Pizza Hut innovatively launched a new category and officially introduced its new product, "Pizza Hut Pizza Burger". At the Xi 'an Burger Festival in May this year, Pizza Hut also combined local Chinese cuisine and specially launched the classic secret recipe "Crayfish Chicken Leg Burger" and "Double Cheese Salted Egg Yolk Crayfish Chicken Leg Burger".
In 2025, Pizza Hut continued to innovate its pizza products, launching a new 10-inch handcrafted thin-crust pizza. This not only significantly boosted pizza sales but also led the industry's development trend with continuous breakthroughs in pizza crust innovation, further solidifying its core position as a "pizza expert" in the industry.
In addition to inheriting traditional culture and innovating products, Pizza Hut has always been fulfilling the corporate responsibility of an international brand and a listed company.
In the newly opened 4,000th restaurant, the uniform design of Pizza Hut's staff closely adheres to the fashion theme of "relaxation, youthfulness and life". While considering the functionality of each job type, the fabric pays particular attention to the comfort of the staff when they wear it.
At the end of the celebration, outstanding employee representatives from all over the country were also invited to the stage one by one to take a highly memorable "family photo" together with the brand leaders, which also highlighted Pizza Hut's brand value of "employee recognition".
In terms of public welfare, at the historic moment when the number of its stores exceeded 4,000, Pizza Hut, in collaboration with the China Volunteer Service Foundation, officially launched a new public welfare project - the Pizza Hut Youth Volunteer Service Action "Little Red Riding Hood Plan", deeply binding the company's growth with social responsibility. This project will rely on the Pizza Hut store network, link community public welfare resources, create a volunteer service ecosystem around teenagers, help cultivate responsible and accountable young people of the new era, and set a benchmark for the joint promotion of volunteer services by the community and enterprises. The first phase will be piloted in cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, and gradually rolled out nationwide.
Judging from the current results, Pizza Hut has been continuously delving into the three aspects of "standardization, digitalization and intelligence, and localization", and has completed the ecological construction of "catering + culture", achieving a full-channel closed loop from offline to online and then to offline repeat purchases.
For 35 years since entering China, Pizza Hut has always been by the side of Chinese consumers, relying on its strong brand influence and continuous product innovation. As a leading Western-style casual dining brand, Pizza Hut will accompany Chinese consumers to go further through economic cycles.
