Pizza Hut gives Iceland the deep freeze

Pizza Hut, that bastion of American, has largely given up on the 320,000 citizens who inhabit the country of Iceland. The Hut's departure is based purely on economic reasons, and not the fact that it's difficult to deliver pies by dog-sled.

Since the economy, like the sun, went south, Iceland's residents can no longer afford American products, let alone its ideals. As Pizza Hut local manager Thordis Loa Thorhallsdottir told Reuters, "Families have less money to spend and restaurants are among the first things people cut" -- as opposed to cutting down the consonants in their names.

But all is not lost. One last Pizza Hut remains open in a shopping mall in Reykjavik, where "we have a large stable of loyal customers," Thorhallsdottir says. Even for a simple cheese pizza that costs $17.