A NEW Pizza Hut site is to open at the Merry Hill shopping centre in December.

It will be the first of 40 new sites opening across the UK.

Pizza Hut Delivery has announced a partnership with Nine Group that will become the franchisee for 31 existing Pizza Hut Delivery and Express Huts.

Through this new partnership, Nine Group will also open the 40 new Pizza Hut locations across the UK.

Pizza Hut in the UK is available to its customers in three different forms – Delivery, Express and its Restaurant arm.

The new site at Merry Hill will be a Pizza Hut Express, offering carry-out or express eat-in service.

There is already a restaurant at the shopping centre in Brierley Hill.

In November 2020, Pizza Hut Delivery announced plans to open 125 new locations over a three-year period – creating around 2,000 jobs.

During the height of lockdown in 2020, Pizza Hut Delivery UK delivered more than 565,000 additional meals from March to early July than in the same period in 2019.

Sales continued to grow and Pizza Hut Delivery saw double digit year on year sales growth in the second half of 2020, with sales continuing to grow throughout 2021.

Neil Manhas, general manager at Pizza Hut Delivery in the UK, said: “We are so excited to be partnering with Nine Group to grow our business, create opportunities for our team members and continue investing in our brand.

"They have a great track record of success in the hotel business and their growth mindset and commitment to customer excellence makes them well placed to continue to grow with Pizza Hut Delivery.

"We welcome Nine Group to the Pizza Hut family with Vivek and his team already hitting the ground running, kicking off the launch of their first new Pizza Hut Express in Dudley very shortly."