Pizza Hut will close nearly 300 dine-in locations as Dominos says it will hire more than 20,000 people to handle a surge in orders after reporting 30% spike in profits

Up to 300 Pizza Hut restaurants will be closed, most of them dine-in locations not well suited for carryout and delivery at a time when millions of people are sheltering and eating at home.

Pizza sales have exploded during the pandemic. Domino's last month reported a 30% spike in quarterly profits. On Monday it said that it was hiring more than 20,000 people to handle surging orders.

Franchisee NPC International said Monday in documents filed in bankruptcy court that it had come to an agreement with Pizza Hut to close hundreds of locations. The Leawood, Kansas, company filed for bankruptcy protection last month.

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On Monday, it was announced that up to 300 Pizza Hut restaurants would be closed, most of them dine-in locations not well suited for carryout and delivery, at a time when millions of people are sheltering and eating at home

NPC owns 1,225 Pizza Huts and 385 Wendy's restaurants in 27 states. There are 6,700 Pizza Hut restaurants in the U.S.

In its filing, NPC said that closing stores not designed for pick-up or delivery will allow it to invest in smaller stores that can better handle online orders.

In May, Pizza Hut's U.S. carryout and delivery sales reached an eight-year high, according to Yum Brands, the Louisville, Kentucky, company that also owns KFC and Taco Bell.

But Pizza Hut's U.S. sales grew just 1% in the April-June period; rival Domino's Pizza, which has smaller, carryout-focused stores, posted a 20% jump in U.S. sales.

Yum Brands in a prepared statement said the stores being closed had underperformed others owned by NPC, and that shedding them would strengthen NPC's remaining portfolio.

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As Pizza Hut's U.S. sales grew just 1% in the April-June period; rival Domino's Pizza, which has smaller, carryout-focused stores, posted a 20% jump in U.S. sales

On Monday Domino's said that it was hiring more than 20,000 people to handle surging orders

A number of other predominantly dining-in restaurants including The Cheesecake Factory, Denny's, Outback Steakhouse and Dave & Buster's are also among the restaurant chains most likely to face bankruptcy in the next year, according to a new market data report. 

The publicly traded restaurant brands were identified by data analysis company S&P Global Market Intelligence as ones that have a high chance of defaulting within the next year amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Sports bar chain Dave & Buster's topped the list with a 16.1 percent probability of having to file for bankruptcy. 

Bloomin' Brands, which owns Outback Steakhouse, has a 13.2 percent probability; Denny's has 11.9 percent and The Cheesecake Factory has an 11.7 percent chance, according to the data report. 

The report's data showed that the average probability of default dropped 10 percent for restaurants last month after surging to 35 percent in April when the majority of the country was in lockdown.

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The Cheesecake Factory has a 11.7 percent probability of filing for bankruptcy within the next year, according to data analysis company S&P Global Market Intelligence

While the report predicts the chains that have a higher probability of defaulting, it says those companies did have their chances of bankruptcy decline from the peak in April.

'The odds that the largest publicly traded US restaurants will default fell in recent months as states allowed businesses closed by the coronavirus pandemic to reopen,' the report said. 

'But the ongoing financial hits from the virus and uncertainty over whether laid-off consumers will receive expanded unemployment benefits continue to pressure the industry as more companies enter bankruptcy.' 

Experts have warned that the risk of defaulting is most problematic for franchisees.  

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Sports bar chain Dave & Buster's topped the list with a 16.1 percent probability of having to file for bankruptcy

Dave and Buster's CEO Brian Jenkins told investors back in June that he was confident the gaming restaurant would overcome the pandemic hardships.

'While still early and with many variables that are beyond our control, we are confident that we are taking the right steps to rebuild our business and emerge from this challenging time,' Jenkins said in a note to the investors. 

Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for Bloomin' Brands which own Outback Steakhouse and Carrabba's Italian Grill criticized the data report, saying it mis-characterized the company's recent sales growth.

The spokesperson said the company had more than $500 million in the bank and that its takeout business was thriving amid the pandemic.

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Denny's, which has already shuttered locations amid the pandemic, has an 11.9 percent chance of defaulting within the next year amid the COVID-19 pandemic

In a statement, Denny's said the company was proud of how they have navigated the landscape during COVID-19.

Multiple restaurants have filed for bankruptcy or shed jobs as the pandemic wears on.   

The lockdowns enforced across much of the country amid the pandemic devastated the restaurant industry as they were forced to close and switch to takeout of delivery. 

The closures resulted in major staff layoffs across the country with jobs slowly starting to be added back again. 

California Pizza Kitchen and the parents company of Chuck E. Cheese have already filed for bankruptcy.

Starbucks, McDonald's and Dunkin', TGI Friday's, Denny's and IHOP have also already closed thousands of restaurant locations across the country.