TORRINGTON – Today, fingers crossed, is the day construction crews are scheduled to pack up their hammers, saws and levels so Torrington’s Pizza Hut can get back to the business of making, selling and delivering pizzas.
Since April 17, crews have been busy remodeling the interior and exterior of the restaurant, which was built in the early 1980s, but, along with three other Pizza Huts in Cheyenne and one in Laramie, was sold last August to High Plains Pizza Inc.
The company acquired its first Pizza Hut in Liberal, Kan., in 1962 and since then has expanded to include 87 restaurants in seven states, including Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.
“We own all the Pizza Hut restaurants in Wyoming, except for the ones in Sheridan, Lander, Riverton, Gillette and Worland,” said Dave Chambers, area coach for High Plains. “We don’t look for big city opportunities. Our biggest footprints are in Missoula, Mont., Casper and Cheyenne. High Plains is a family owned franchisee that loves small town markets.”
As for the Torrington Pizza Hut, Chambers said High Plains tried to purchase it six years ago but it didn’t work out. Last year, conditions were more favorable and High Plains was able to close the deal.
“Every franchisee has to reinvest capital every so many years back into the restaurant and many of the smaller franchises are selling because of the mandatory capital requirements,” Chambers said. “Even new federal mandates and state regulations drove the cost of this remodel up substantially.”
But Chambers said the new look will be worth the effort, and the cost.
“It will be completely different,” he said. “There is a new salad bar and buffet and new furniture. It will be a lot more comfortable.
“The ceiling and walls were replaced to lighten up the interior and we replaced the roof and the signage. It has a completely different look.”
As part of the upgrade, Chambers has also held a couple of local job fairs to hire new staff, even though High Plains is retaining any former staff members that want to stay.
“It takes about 22 staff to run a restaurant (like this), in a mix of full-time and part-time employees” he said. “We’re looking to fill 12 positions or more, everything from drivers to management. You have to have at least six drivers working in a market this size to keep up with deliveries. When we took over there were two.”
Chambers said that when Dominoes opened in town, it hurt Pizza Huts business and the restaurant didn’t make the adjustments needed to take back market share. But with new owners, new management and a new attitude, Chambers said this Pizza Hut will reopen, ready to bring back old customers.
“With the new look, I think we’ll attract a lot more people than it did before,” he said. “I really hope the good people of Torrington give us a shot because (High Plains) is very good at this business.
“Our products are great and our service will be great. We just want an opportunity to show people that we have earned our stripes over a lot of years and are very successful at what we do.”
Because Chambers expects there to be at least a weeks worth of cleaning to do after construction is completed, Pizza Hut will restart with pickup and delivery services this weekend, given there are no delays in scheduled final inspections, with dine-in services to begin a week later.
“We are planning a ribbon cutting event with the chamber on June 1 between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m., between the lunch and dinner crowds and we’re hoping a lot of people will come in and see the new restaurant,” Chamber said. “Also during the first week of our reopening, we will be donating 10 percent of our sale to the Goshen County Taskforce on Family Violence and Sexual Assault. We really want to rebuild our positive presence in the community.”
