The Haysville Times
By Angie Gumm
At a February city council meeting earlier this year, the council approved a request from Pizza Hut to buy 42,015 square feet at 200 N. Main, across the street from their current location. An agreement was reached that the city would not let any restaurant that bought the old Pizza Hut building sell food that would “directly compete” with food Pizza Hut was selling. Pizza Hut indicated that it would be putting in a Pizza Hut Bistro, which serves a larger variety of Italian food. There was even talk from Pizza Hut that Haysville would get one of the biggest Pizza Huts in the state.
Now, however, Pizza Hut has cancelled its plans, and is planning to lease the South end of the Main St. building which hosts Curves and Family Dollar. The new store will be a Pizza Hut Wing Street, which will have a drive-thru, carryout, and delivery, but there will be no dine-in seating.
Pizza Hut spokeswoman Julie Hildebrand said that the company had no signed contract with the City. “We did some research on Haysville, and what we could sustain there,” she said. “And we found that Haysville would be better served with a drive-thru, carry-out facility.”
Mayor Bruce Armstrong said he is boycotting Pizza Hut, because they are not “community-minded.”
“When a company as large as that decides to just lease space instead of building, they’re taking from the community and not putting back to it,” he said. “They’re not a very community-minded business if that’s what they’re going to do.”
Once the current restaurant closes, there will be no nighttime full-service inside city limits. (Whitehorse Steakhouse is outside of the city.)
As for the boycott, the Mayor said, “I’m not going to issue a major statement about it. Everybody can do what they think is right.” Some callers to the paper, however, have been showing support for the boycott.
Hildebrand responded to the boycott by saying that, “Pizza Hut has been in Haysville for 30 years, and we look forward to continuing to serve the people of Haysville.”