WICHITA, Kan. — The original Pizza Hut building has opened as a museum at Wichita State University.
WSU Foundation CEO Elizabeth King told The Wichita Eagle that staff from the school came together “to collaborate and create this fabulous museum that will be curated by the students.” The museum opened last Wednesday on the school’s Innovation Campus.
Brothers Dan and Frank Carney were students at the university in 1958 when they converted a beer tavern into the original Pizza Hut.
King said Pizza Hut “is a name that is recognized around the world, and so it is another stamp of success for our graduates.”
Dan Carney attended the opening ceremony, saying, “I think they did a great job.”
The museum takes visitors through the evolution of the pizza chain. Items on display include the recipe for the original Pizza Hut sauce, written on a napkin, and the restaurant’s original work schedule. There also are photos of the Carney brothers.
King said the items will rotate on a regular basis.
“And so it’ll be very live,” she said. “Every six months it’ll be a little bit different.”
There are 7,500 Pizza Huts nationwide and another 10,000 abroad.
The Kentucky-based Yum! Brands now owns Pizza Hut. Yum! Brands president Artie Starrs said the company’s goal is “to have 20,000 by the end of the year 2020.”
“It’s our job to maintain that legacy and grow it,” Starrs said.
