Dan and Frank Carney

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Dan (born 1931) and Frank Carney (born 1938) are the founders of Pizza Hut.

Dan and Frank both graduated from the University of Wichita, Kansas, USA (now Wichita State). In 1958, by borrowing $600 from their mother they opened the first Pizza Hut. It was named Pizza Hut because they wanted the word "pizza" in the title and because there was only three spaces left after pizza in the sign and the facility was shaped like a hut.

Dan and Frank guided the fledgling company in its earliest days in the belief that growth would come through dedicated employees and a commitment to quality. To this day, the brothers give huge amounts of credit to the early franchisees.

[edit] Rise to success

Growing geographically in concentric circles with Wichita as the focal point, many of the original franchisees came from the ranks of employees, friends and college acquaintances during a time where Dan was pursuing his master's degree in Business Administration and Frank was an undergraduate in Mathematics and Business.

By 1963, the Carneys and the franchisees recognized the need for a standardized building. In 1964 the basic free-standing design of today's Pizza Hut restaurants opened in Wichita. In 1968 the first international Pizza Hut restaurant was opened in Canada. In 1969, Pizza Hut Inc. had its first general public offering. In 1971 Pizza Hut became world leader in pizza sales and number of restaurants. In 1977 Pizza Hut merged with Pepsi Co. In 1980 Pizza Hut unit No. 4,000 opened.

Frank left PepsiCo in the spring of 1980 to pursue personal investments and opportunities. In the late 1990s, Frank fulfilled a long-standing promise to his mother and returned to WSU to earn his Bachelor's Degree.

[edit] Recent years

Today, Frank sits on the board of Intrust Financial Corp., Intrust Bank, N.A. He is the past president of the International Franchise Association (IFA) and the Wichita Area Chamber of Commerce. Industry honors include the 1975 Silver Plate Award from the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association, and the 1974 Man Of The Year in the Multi-Unit Foodservice Organization. He is an 1991 inductee into the IFA Hall of Fame.

Frank became a franchisee of Papa John's Pizza in 1994. By 2001, he owned 133 locations. Based in Houston, his company runs stores in Kansas, Missouri, California, Texas and Hawaii. During legal struggles with Pizza Hut in the late 1990s, Papa John's ran commercial advertisements highlighting the fact, including a dramatization showing Frank coming to a Pizza Hut stockholders' meeting wearing a Papa John's apron, saying, "Sorry, guys. I found a better pizza." Frank stands by his personal criticism of Pizza Hut, stating that the pizza now made by the chain he founded is of lower quality than when he and his brother ran the business.

Dan, who has maintained strong community ties to his hometown, has been Chairman of the Board of Cerebral Palsy Research Foundation of Kansas, since its inception of 30 years, a charitable organization and not-for-profit business. He presently sits on the board of the WSU Foundation, Guadalupe Clinic, Wichita Red Cross and Wichita Community Foundation. Dan has been awarded the W.S.U. Presidents Medal of Distinguished Alumnus Award, and the Big Brother/Big Sisters 'Reaching the Summit' honor. In 1977 he was the first inductee into the Pizza Hut Hall of Fame and in 2001 awarded the Junior Achievement Wichita Business Hall of Fame.

Dan also serves as Chairman of the Board of T-Netix (NASDAQ), he sits on the boards of DCSS Digital Computing, Resort 1 and Pulse, while managing his personal investments.

Dan has six children and ten grandchildren. He is married to Gayla Wagnon. Frank has eight children and eleven grandchildren.