Larry Lundy, a well-known New Orleans businessman and Pizza Hut magnate who owned dozens of the franchises in southeast Louisiana that abruptly closed last month, filed a counterclaim Monday against the pizza chain, claiming it hampered his company’s profitability as it attempted to squeeze him out of the market.
Lundy Enterprises, the company’s franchisee for New Orleans and Baton Rouge, owned 44 Pizza Hut locations at the time of the most recent court proceedings, including two in New Orleans, according to a lawsuit filed Jan. 3 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Dallas.
Painting a picture of a contentious relationship, Lundy, who owned Lundy Enterprises with his wife, Marilyn, says in his counterclaim that Pizza Hut imposed unfair credit terms on him, refused to allow his chain of restaurants to introduce new products that were available in other markets, and schemed to reclaim his territories for the corporation.