City Clears Two of Six Shuttered Pizza Huts to Reopen
But new owner speaks out about frustrations with licensing process.
Pizza Hut at 2340 N. Farwell Ave. Photo by Sophie Bolich.
The operator of five local Pizza Hut restaurants is speaking out against the Milwaukee Health Department (MHD) following a citywide shutdown last month over licensing issues.
PHZ Foods on Thursday criticized the department for a “lack of clarity and responsiveness” and expressed “growing frustration” regarding its efforts to obtain proper licensing after acquiring several restaurants from EYM Pizza of Wisconsin, LLC.
“Despite our repeated attempts to contact the Milwaukee Health Department, we’ve received little to no guidance or timely communication on how to move forward with the basic licensing process,” Puneet Gill, a representative of PZH Foods, told Urban Milwaukee via email.
In April, MHD ordered six Pizza Hut locations to close after discovering the new operators had not secured the necessary licenses to operate after taking over the businesses, a department official confirmed Thursday.
The affected locations included 3921 S. 76th St., 2340 N. Farwell Ave., 3555 S. 27th St., 1840 S. 15th St., 5704 W. Capitol Dr., and 10400 W. Silver Spring Dr. — the latter is operated by PH Hospitality.
MHD stated that the closures were administrative and not related to health code violations.
EYM Pizza L.P., an affiliate of EYM Pizza of Wisconsin, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July. The large-scale franchisee previously held 127 stores across five states.
The California-based PZH Foods acquired 21 of those — including five in Milwaukee — during a bankruptcy auction in January. Another operator, PH Hospitality, purchased six, including one Milwaukee location.
Immediately following the acquisition, Gill said his team began addressing “numerous health and safety concerns” identified by MHD, adding that the locations were in poor condition due to being “severely neglected for over two decades.”
Gill also said he was unaware of certain procedures involved in the licensing process — specifically, that each store would require a minimum of five separate inspections.
“This critical information was only shared with us a week and a half ago, despite our outreach efforts beginning immediately after the acquisition.”
As of May 8, MHD has cleared the S. 76th Street and N. Farwell Avenue restaurants — now licensed — to reopen. Stores on S. 27th and S. 15th streets are also expected to reopen this week, according to Gill, with the Capitol Drive restaurant to follow next week.
MHD released its holds on the 10400 W. Silver Spring Dr. location April 9, but other holds remain from the License Division and Department of Neighborhood Services (DNS).
MHD noted that its role “is to ensure that food establishments meet health code and licensing requirements before they are cleared to operate. Once any remaining department-level holds are resolved, the affected locations will be eligible to reopen.”
The latest round of closures mirrors a similar incident in 2019, when MHD shut down nine EYM-operated Pizza Hut locations due to licensing issues during a previous change in ownership. The city’s licensing processes are posted online, but many large chain operators rely on local attorneys or agents to ensure compliance.
Milwaukee was already down one Pizza Hut prior to last month’s closures. EYM shuttered its restaurant at 3131 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. in late January, a brand representative confirmed.
The Bay View property is now listed for sale.
A representative of PH Hospitality was not immediately available for comment.
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