ETHIOPIA – American pizza chain, Pizza Hut, has launched its first ever women-operated restaurant in line with its gender empowerment ambitions through the Ethiopian Business, reports Addis Standard.

Speaking during the launching event at Century Mall, Chief Executive Officer /Shareholder of Belayab foods and Pizza Hut franchise in Ethiopia, Michael Ghebru, highlighted that Pizza Hut is committed to promote women and youth empowerment in the Ethiopia.

“We are proud to be the first to have this kind of restaurant and we want to showcase the uniqueness of this Pizza Hut, particularly for being the first to have a women-centred theme,” he said.

Michael added that the franchise opened the women operated restaurant as an initiative inspired by the government’s reforms in promote gender equality in Ethiopia.

“Through the opening of this exceptional store, which was also built by a woman-owned construction company, Pizza Hut intends to become a pioneer in achieving such an important milestone to empower women and youth in the country,” Pizza Hut said in a statement.

Pizaa Hut Ethiopia said that the more than 140 people capacity newly opened outlet will be offering a menu with a wide selection of pizza flavors

“Fans of Pizza Hut will be able to enjoy the restaurant chain’s time-tested and famous pizza recipes at Century Mall,” the statement said.

The American restaurant chain entered Ethiopia in 2016 with three new outlets, attracted by the country’s growing economy.

Pizza Hut restaurants now trade in 13 Sub-Saharan African countries, with an additional 90 stores in Morocco, Egypt and Algeria, bringing the total to 190 across the African continent.

Pizza Hut is the world’s largest pizza franchise with 17,000 locations in over 120 countries, spread across 5 continents.

In November 2018, Pizza Hut partnered Toyota Motor Corp to unveil a robot-operated, mobile pizza factory with the ability to deliver oven-hot pizza developed in the bed of a modified Toyota Tundra.

 The investment seeks to utilise automated technology to cook pies on-the-go in six to seven minutes, with a goal to cut delivery times.

As one of the leading restaurant chains in the world, Pizza Hut has a revenue of over US$8 billion worldwide.