Cara Bayles / Houma Courier
HOUMA, LA - Eighteen south Louisiana Pizza Huts have reopened in recent months, including three in Slidell and eight in Baton Rouge. Three new ones are also planned, one each in Greenwell Springs, Abita Springs and Baton Rouge.
Chris Fuller, a Pizza Hut spokesman, declined to provide details about planned restaurants in other locations 'for competitive reasons.'
'The redevelopment of the market is ongoing,' he says in an emailed statement. 'We will be opening new Pizza Hut restaurants in the New Orleans market as well as redeveloping former locations.'
44 south Louisiana Pizza Hut franchises abruptly closed in January because of a financial dispute between the pizza chain and franchise owner Larry Lundy of New Orleans. A resulting federal lawsuit is set to be held this summer.
A new restaurant is moving into the West Park Avenue space in Houma that was once occupied by Pizza Hut.
The building, at 6285 W. Park Ave., will be taken over by an independently owned restaurant called Reef Burgers and Po-Boys, which specializes in homemade hamburgers.
Restaurant owner Tim Stringer, 39, of Houma says it will open before Christmas and will be run by a staff of 18 to 20 workers. Applications are being accepted now at the restaurant.
Building owner Vince Cannata, who also owns the nearby Cannata's Market, said the space is undergoing renovations now. The old Pizza Hut red roof is now painted blue, and the building sports cypress window trim and teal shutters.
The chain has reopened some closed restaurants under new management, but Houma's Pizza Hut restaurants have been abandoned and the buildings put up for lease, a corporate representative said.
The other Houma Pizza Hut, at 907 Grand Caillou Road, is available for lease through Corporate Realty. The New Orleans-based company did not return calls for comment, but an online listing for the 20-year-old building says its purchase price has dropped from $450,000 to $350,000, and the annual lease rate has dropped from $45,000 to $38,000.
There were three Pizza Huts in Lafourche. The one at 4546 La. 1 in Raceland is now Moe's Pizza, which opened in August. The other two, at 523 St. Mary St. in Thibodaux and 16156 W. Main in Cut Off, are available for lease.
