Dan and Frank Carney

Brothers Dan (born 1931) and Frank Carney (born 1938 in Wichita, Kansas) are American enterpreneurs, the founders of Pizza Hut.[1]

Early years

Dan and Frank Carney were born in a family of six children, and raised in Wichita, Kansas, where they live today.[2][3]

Pizza Hut

In 1958, the brothers borrowed $600 from their mother and opened a pizza restaurant catering students, at the request of a local real estate agent, who had an unrented building and convinced them that pizza would be a promising business. Although they knew little about both pizza and business-making, they learned quickly and the business started to grow. The first franchise opened in Topeka, Kansas in 1959. The Pizza Hut in Aggieville, Kansas was the first Pizza Hut to have delivery, a concept unheard of before. By 1977, Pizza Hut reached 4,000 outlets. In 1977, brothers decided to sell the business to PepsiCo for over USD 300 million and ventured into other businesses. Frank remained the president and board member of Pizza Hut until 1980.[1][3]

Recent years

Frank became a franchisee of Papa John's Pizza in 1994.[2] By 2001, he owned 133 locations. Based in Houston, his company runs stores in Kansas, Arizona, Missouri, California, Texas and Hawaii, including several in his hometown of Wichita and the suburbs of Derby and Andover, under the franchise name PJ Wichita LLC., before selling the franchise to then Franchise President Terry Newman. 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.

Today, Frank sits on the board of Entrust Financial Corp., Entrust 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.

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.[2]

Frank's children Trevor Carney and Tressa Carney are also involved with him in Papa John's:

References

  1. 1 2 "Dan and Frank Carney". Kansapedia. Kansas Historical Society. March 2008. Retrieved 2015-10-01.
  2. 1 2 3 "Contemporary Honors Award Recipient: Dan and Frank Carney". Emporia State University - School of Business. 2003.
  3. 1 2 "Carney, Frank". Encyclopedia.com.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, February 04, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.