[Southsider2k12]

https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/pizza-h...1bW15MTZieXRlcw

Pizza Hut restaurants abruptly closed across Northwest Indiana Thursday after the franchisee was accused of defaulting on payments and claimed Pizza Hut failed to adapt to modern tastes and did little more recently than changing the type of cheese in its Stuffed Crust Pizza.

Pizza Hut locations in Hammond, Munster, Griffith and Schererville were all closed during regular operating hours. A sign on the door of the Schererville pizzeria said "location closed" while a sign at the Griffith location read, "We apologize for any inconvenience. We are temporarily closed."

Pizza Hut's website also listed locations in Merrillville, Crown Point, Hobart, Lowell, Cedar Lake, Winfield, Valparaiso, Chesterton, Portage and Michigan City as closed. South suburban locations, such as in South Holland and Crete, remained open in Illinois.

Plano, Texas-based Pizza Hut, one of the largest pizza chains in the country, said the closures should hopefully be temporary but cautioned that not all the locations may reopen. The pizza chain, known for its personal pan pizzas and Book It! promotion, is embroiled in a contractual dispute with the franchisee that owns its local restaurants in Northwest Indiana.