Yum! Slates Pizza Hut Co-Branding Test

Louisville, Kentucky--Yum! Brands plans to turn a few of its Pizza Hut dine-in restaurants into outlets of a fast-casual pasta chain that would then sell Pizza Hut-brand pizza. The arrangement would be a test of a more comprehensive co-branding arrangement with the pasta chain, similar to a deal that Yum! has struck with Back Yard Burgers.

Yum!, parent of A&W, KFC, Long John Silver's and Taco Bell, has been saying for months that it may ally the brand with a pasta or sandwich chain that the company would buy. -Restaurant Business