UK (Commonwealth) _ A KFC outlet opens somewhere in the world every 3.5 hours on average, according to the company’s announcement of the milestone today. The company’s newest restaurant, located in Rome, Italy, was the 30,000th site worldwide when KFC made this announcement.
In a statement, KFC Global CEO Sabir Sami stated, “Opening our 30,000th restaurant is a testimony to the support of our local partners in business, staff, and consumers over the past nearly 75 years. As a worldwide brand, we still strive to cater to the particular requirements and tastes of each community by creating menus that are in line with regional customs and tastes. Serving local communities is another aspect of it, and we do this via running upskilling and food donation programs in several of our markets, including Italy.”
2023 saw the opening of approximately 2,500 KFC locations in 96 countries, a 10% growth rate, and a record for brand development. Fifteen publicly traded franchisees accounted for more than 80% of the expansion in units. Almost half of Yum Brands’ divisional operational growth may be attributed to KFC.
Executives identified a number of noteworthy markets for Yum during the company’s most recent earnings call, which took place last month. In 2023, KFC’s growth was spearheaded by China, India, Thailand, South Africa, and Spain, which together accounted for 15 nations that had an increase in the number of stores by over 25.Furthermore, later this year, KFC intends to open in its 150th nation.
Master franchisee COB S.R.L., which intends to establish more than 25 more KFC locations around Italy and reach 100 units later this year, launched the new restaurant in Rome.
Yum Brands is headed toward 60,000 restaurants this year, having added just under 10,000 net new units over the previous three years as of the beginning of 2024.
There are several more quick-service companies aiming for significant worldwide expansion, including Yum Brands.For example, McDonald’s stated late last year that it hopes to have 50,000 locations worldwide by 2027. Starbucks announced in November that by 2030, it wanted to have 55,000 locations worldwide. Additionally, Inspire Brands said earlier this month that it had reached 10,000 locations worldwide, but that there was still “a lot of white space” for its trademarks.
Every month, Sabir Sami, the CEO of KFC Global, travels for almost two weeks. He had returned from a vacation to his native Pakistan, where a new store was announcing 10,000 sales every week. The month was still in its infancy. As general manager of Yum! Canada, Sami, a Yum! Brands veteran since 2009 who has worked at every flagship location of the biggest restaurant chain in the world, including Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, warned that the honeymoon phase wouldn’t continue forever.
Perhaps it would reach a plateau at 8,000 or 6,000. The operators disagreed calmly. Sami remembers, “They said, ‘no, no, no, no, we think it will plateau at 14,000 a week.'” They predict it will reach that point. Those are crazy numbers. It only demonstrates how strong the brand is everywhere in the world.
A well-worn thread of American history is the tale of Colonel Harland Sanders, who operated a roadside eatery in Corbin, Kentucky, serving fried chicken. With a $105 monthly Social Security check, he started franchising at the age of 65. He and Pete Harman created the first partner unit in Salt Lake City in 1952.
No other restaurant—or retail brand, for that matter—has the Colonel and KFC’s visual alignment and recognition. In the early 1970s, Norman Rockwell even depicted Sanders wearing his well-known white suit. The image is on display in the company’s museum in Louisville, Kentucky, which is located next to the three-story colonial-style structure known as the “White House.”
However, the initial steps toward KFC’s wider footprint were taken in the 1960s. One of the first quick-service restaurants in the United States to go global, it opened locations in Jamaica, Mexico, and the United Kingdom.
Yum, these days! One of the company’s “twin growth engines,” according to CEO David Gibbs, is KFC International (the other is Taco Bell U.S.)
For many, certain recent numbers feel like whole history books. KFC International had a ten percent increase in 2023 as over 2,700 new locations—2,682 to be exact—opened across 96 countries, coupled with 415 closures. It is a place every 3.3 hours.
