Pizza Hut opens its 500th outlet in Indian subcontinent; company to focus on products, innovation

New Delhi: Yum Brands-owned pizza chain Pizza Hut India plans to open over 200 more outlets in India by 2022 to expand its retail footprint, a top company official said on Friday.The company opened its 500th store in the Indian subcontinent in Delhi on Friday. It operates 422 stores in the country."We will continue to expand our footprint in the coming year and aim to open over 200 more outlets in India by 2022...Along with store expansion, we are also focusing on our products, innovation and ensuring that we deliver the best pizza experience to our consumers across geographies," the company said."We expanded our fast-casual delco (FCD) concept and now we have over 58 FCDs till date across India including this store. We see this as a multi-year transformation and aim to sustain it with thrilling plans in the next year," said Unnat Varma, MD, Pizza Hut (India sub-continent).The pizza chain runs a franchise model in the country, where investments for opening new outlets mainly comes from franchise partner.