Pizza Hut will close 68 dine-in restaurants and 11 delivery locations across the UK after the company operating them, DC London Pie Limited, entered administration, putting more than 1,200 jobs at risk.

Administrators from FTI Consulting were appointed on Monday to DC London Pie, which had purchased Pizza Hut’s UK restaurants from insolvency in January. The business also runs franchises in Sweden and Denmark.

Yum! Brands, the US hospitality group that owns Pizza Hut globally alongside KFC and Taco Bell, said it has acquired the remainder of the UK restaurant operation in a pre-pack administration deal that will save 64 sites and secure the future of 1,276 workers. Those locations will be operated directly by Yum!.

“We are pleased to secure the continuation of 64 sites to safeguard our guest experience and protect the associated jobs,” a Pizza Hut UK spokesperson said. “Approximately 2,259 team members will transfer to the new Yum! equity business under UK TUPE legislation, including above-restaurant leaders and support teams.”

Nicolas Burquier, managing director for Pizza Hut Europe and Canada, called the agreement a “targeted acquisition” which “aims to safeguard our guest experience and protect jobs where possible”. He added: “Our immediate priority is operational continuity at the acquired locations and supporting colleagues through the transition.”

The closures come less than a year after DC London Pie took the chain’s restaurants out of insolvency. The Guardian reported HM Revenue and Customs filed a winding up petition against DC London Pie on 11 September, while Sky News noted a subsidiary of Yum! had also filed a petition around six weeks ago.

Industry observers said the brand has struggled to keep pace with changing tastes and rising costs in the casual dining sector. Zoe Adjay, a senior lecturer in hospitality at the University of East London, said Pizza Hut had been “at the forefront of bringing fast food into the UK” in the 1970s but had found it hard to remain relevant as “the pizza market has become a lot more upmarket” and rivals gained ground, particularly on social media.

Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell, said rescuing a big-name casual dining business is “a tough job”. She added: “Taking back the brand looks a smart move by Yum! Brands as it has decades of data about how pizza lovers like to consume and exactly what factors need to coalesce to make a location a success.”

Pizza Hut opened its first UK restaurant in London’s Islington in 1973 and counted nearly 700 locations by 2006, but has faced inflationary pressures, higher energy bills and tax changes in recent years.

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