Dan and Frank Carney
{{short description|American businessmen}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{More citations needed|date=February 2021}}
{{infobox person
| name = Dan Carney
| birth_place = Wichita, Kansas, United States
| birth_date = {{birth_year and age|1931}}
| occupation = Business entrepreneur
| known_for = Pizza Hut
| family = Mike Carney (son)
}}
{{infobox_person
| name = Frank Carney
| birth_place = Wichita, Kansas, United States
| birth_date = April 26, 1938
| death_place= Kansas, United States
| death_date =December 2, 2020 (aged 82)
| occupation = Business entrepreneur
| known_for = Co-founder of Pizza Hut, Franchisee of Papa John's Pizza
}}
Brothers Dan (born 1931) and Frank Carney (April 26, 1938 – December 2, 2020) were American businessmen who founded the pizza restaurant chain Pizza Hut.{{cite web|url=https://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/dan-and-frank-carney/12003 |title=Dan and Frank Carney |publisher=Kansas Historical Society |work=Kshs.org |date=March 2008 |access-date=October 1, 2015}}
Early years
Dan and Frank Carney were born into a blended family of twelve children, and raised in Wichita, Kansas, where Dan still lives today.{{cite web|last=|first=|year=2003|title=Contemporary Honors Award Recipient: Dan and Frank Carney|url=http://www.emporia.edu/business/community/kbhf/contemporary/contemporary-honors-award-recipient-2003.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151002031016/http://www.emporia.edu/business/community/kbhf/contemporary/contemporary-honors-award-recipient-2003.html|archive-date=October 2, 2015|access-date=|website=|publisher=Emporia State University – School of Business}}{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/article-1G2-3427100280/carney-frank.html |title=Carney, Frank |publisher=Encyclopedia.com}} Although Frank Carney dropped out of Wichita State University, where he studied engineering, he later returned to the university to receive a degree in general studies and mathematics.{{Cite web|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/frank-carney-pizza-hut-co-founder-dies-at-age-82-11607012338|title=Frank Carney, Pizza Hut Co-Founder, Dies at Age 82|first=James R.|last=Hagerty|date=December 3, 2020|access-date=October 25, 2021|website=Wsj.com}}
Pizza Hut
In 1958, the brothers borrowed $600 from their mother and opened a pizza restaurant catering to students after a local real estate agent with an unrented building convinced them that pizza would be a promising business.{{Cite web |date=December 17, 2015 |title=Wichita Entrepreneurs: Pizza Hut Founder Dan Carney |url=https://www.kmuw.org/business/2015-12-17/wichita-entrepreneurs-pizza-hut-founder-dan-carney |access-date=September 21, 2023 |website=KMUW |language=en}} Although they knew little about pizza-making or business, they learned quickly and the business started to grow. Their first franchise opened in Topeka, Kansas, in 1959. The Pizza Hut in Aggieville, Kansas, was the first to have delivery, an innovation. By 1977, Pizza Hut had grown to 4,000 outlets and the brothers decided to sell the business to PepsiCo for over $300 million USD. Frank remained the president and a board member of Pizza Hut until 1980.
The Carney brothers have been featured in the History Channel series The Food That Built America.{{Cite web|url=https://play.history.com/shows/the-food-that-built-america/season-2/episode-1|title=Pizza Wars | HISTORY|website=Play.history.com|access-date=October 25, 2021}}
File:FirstPizzaHut.jpg Campus]]
Later years
= Frank =
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, 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."{{Citation|last=9L9EX17J|title=1998 Papa John's Pizza commercial|date=August 20, 2018|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPiePMppHWU|access-date=February 20, 2019}}{{cbignore}}{{Dead Youtube links|date=February 2022}}
Frank sat on the board of Intrust Financial Corp., Intrust Bank, N.A. He was 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 received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement in 1976.{{cite web |title=Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=achievement.org |publisher=American Academy of Achievement |url=https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#business}} He was a 1991 inductee into the IFA Hall of Fame.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Private Enterprise – (1997) May/June 1997 WSU Alumni News – THE SHOCKER|url=http://wsu.wichita.edu/the-shocker/story.php?eid=37&id=1112#.V80Dd5MrLX8|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160911213728/http://wsu.wichita.edu/the-shocker/story.php?eid=37&id=1112|archive-date=September 11, 2016|access-date=September 5, 2016|website=Wsu.wichita.edu}} From 1980 to 1986, Frank was the Managing General Partner of the Wichita Wings of the Major Indoor Soccer League, and remained part owner of the club until the folding of the league in 1992.
Frank was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2009.{{Cite web|url=https://www.kansas.com/news/business/biz-columns-blogs/carrie-rengers/article229253744.html|title=Pizza Hut co-founder's compassionate-care Alzheimer's trial leads to hope for others|last=Rengers|first=Carrie|website=Kansas.com|language=en|access-date=June 11, 2019}} He died from pneumonia following a recovery from COVID-19, at 4:30am on December 2, 2020, at the age of 82.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ksn.com/news/local/frank-carney-pizza-hut-co-founder-dies-at-82/|title=Community remembers Frank Carney, Pizza Hut co-founder, who dies at 82|website=Ksn.com|date=December 2, 2020|access-date=October 25, 2021|archive-date=January 19, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210119123440/https://www.ksn.com/news/local/frank-carney-pizza-hut-co-founder-dies-at-82/|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web |date=December 3, 2020 |title=Pizza Hut co-founder Frank Carney dead at 82 |url=https://www.wftv.com/news/trending/pizza-hut-co-founder-frank-carney-dead-82/ZVYWT5X53JAD7AOCMN7FCPND5Q/ |access-date=September 21, 2023 |website=WFTV |language=en}}
= Dan =
Dan spent several years of his adult life playing recreational polo along with his son, professional polo player, Mike Carney,{{Cite web|url=http://www.butlercountytimesgazette.com/article/20110816/NEWS/308169907?start=2|title=Polo Club is right in Andover's backyard|last=Costello|first=Jeremy|access-date=September 5, 2016}} president of Fairfield Polo Club in Wichita, Kansas.{{Cite web|url=http://www.wichitapolo.org/welcome.html|title=Welcome|website=Wichita Polo, Fairfield Polo Club|access-date=September 5, 2016|archive-date=September 11, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160911044641/http://www.wichitapolo.org/welcome.html|url-status=dead}} In 2001 he was awarded the Junior Achievement Wichita Business Hall of Fame.{{Cite web |date=March 6, 2022 |title=Wichita Business Magazine – March 2022 Issue by E2 Communications & Publishing – Issuu |url=https://issuu.com/tkmagazine/docs/2022_wb_spring_final |access-date=September 21, 2023 |website=issuu.com |language=en}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.pizzahut.com/ Pizza Hut Official Website]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carney, Dan and Frank}}
Category:American food company founders