Yum! Brands hits 40,0000

QSR giant Yum! Brands has opened its 40,000th restaurant – a flagship KFC store in Goa, India.

KFC is the fastest growing quick-service restaurant brand in India, tripling in size over the last five years to 296 restaurants. Sister brand Pizza Hut boasts 181 casual dining restaurants and 132 home delivery locations. Taco Bell, Yum! Brands’ third international brand, entered India in 2010 in Bangalore and now has four restaurants located in the city.

By 2015, India is expected to have $1 billion in system sales, which includes company and franchise restaurants. By then, the restaurant company will have over 1000 KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell outlets in more than 100 cities.

The 4100 sqft store is based on a theme of ‘Soul, Spirit and Heart.’Yum! says It takes inspiration from the core brand essence where ‘Soul’, stands for KFC’s commitment of great taste and quality reinstating its promise of ‘Always prepared fresh, world famous secret recipe, great tasting non-veg and 100 per cent vegetarian products; ‘Spirit’ is all about the pleasure of sharing with friends and family and having a great time-out; and ‘Heart’ reiterates its belief of giving back to the community in which it operates.

Yum! says India is a key emerging market. It has a rapidly growing middle class and a huge, youthful population of more than 1.2 billion people with 65 per cent under the age of 35.

It is predicted that India will have the largest consuming class in the world by 2030. India also has a strong retail environment and is the sixth largest poultry consumer market in the world. The eating-out market is estimated to be $94 billion and only two per cent is considered ‘organised’ with national and international food retail brands.

“Our India business has been making incredible progress, laying the foundation for similar emerging markets where the consuming class is likely to double in five years. We maintain a positive outlook on the Indian market and look forward to reaching the 1000th restaurant milestone by 2015,” said Yum! Restaurants India president Niren Chaudhary.

Louisville, Kentucky-based Yum! Brands has plans to open a record 1450 new restaurants in emerging markets this year.

“Together with our growth-ready franchise partners, Yum! Brands plans to invest $10 billion and have more than 20,000 restaurants in emerging markets by 2020,” said CEO David Novak.

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