The story
PepsiCo fast food division
The company's history began in 1977, when PepsiCo entered the restaurant business by acquiring Pizza Hut from co-founders Dan and Frank Carney. A year later, PepsiCo purchased Taco Bell from founder Glen Bell. In July 1986, R. J. Reynolds sold KFC to PepsiCo to pay off debt from its recent purchase of Nabisco.
In 1990, Hot 'n Now was acquired via Taco Bell from William Van Domelen, but the company was sold in 1996. In 1992, PepsiCo acquired California Pizza Kitchen. In 1993, it acquired Chevys Fresh Mex, D'Angelo Grilled Sandwiches, and the American division of Canadian chain East Side Mario's. These chains were later sold when PepsiCo exited the restaurant business and spun off KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell (see next paragraph). In 1997, PepsiCo sold PepsiCo Food Systems restaurant-supply unit to Ameriserve Food Distribution Inc.
Tricon Global Restaurants
Yum! was created in 1997 as Tricon Global Restaurants, Inc. from PepsiCo's fast food division as the parent corporation of the KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell restaurant companies. The decision was announced in January and the spin off was effected on October 6. Before the Tricon name was introduced in June 1997, the company was referred to by the placeholder name "Great American Restaurant Company". Tricon selected Louisville, also the site of KFC's headquarters, as its corporate headquarters. Taco Bell and Pizza Hut continued to be headquartered in Irvine, California and Dallas, Texas, respectively.
In 2000, Tricon Global tested multi-branded locations with Yorkshire Global Restaurants, parent company of A&W and Long John Silver's. By March 2002, the Tricon-Yorkshire multibranding test consisted of 83 KFC/A&Ws, six KFC/Long John Silver's and three Taco Bell/Long John Silver's and was considered successful by the companies.
In 2001, KFC started test restaurants in Austin, Texas, called "Wing Works", a chicken wing line sold with one of a few flavored sauces. KFC also hired a consultant to develop a breakfast menu.
Tricon bought both A&W and LJS from Grotech in March 2002, shortly before the merger announcement.
Yum! Brands
In March 2002, Yorkshire announced it would merge with Tricon Global Restaurants to form Yum! Brands. The merger was finalized on May 8, 2002, and the name change became effective on May 22, 2002. Tricon had previously used "YUM", an exclamation representing enjoyment of food, as its stock ticker symbol since it was spun off in 1997. On June 6, 2002, Yum! executed a two-for-one stock split. Shortly afterwards, due to Yum!'s then full contract with Pepsi post spin-off, Long John Silver's and A&W Restaurants (which previously served Coca-Cola products) began switching to Pepsi products, with A&W Restaurants retaining A&W Root Beer from a separate deal with Cadbury Schweppes (now Keurig Dr Pepper).
In 2002, Yum! began testing co-branding locations pairing Pizza Hut with Pasta Bravo, Back Yard Burgers, and A&W. The Pasta Bravo concept was acquired in 2003 from Pasta Bravo, Inc. of Aliso Viejo, California for $5 million to pair with Pizza Hut.
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In 2003, Yum! launched WingStreet as a hybrid combo unit with an existing Pizza Hut franchise. In 2007 and 2008, a thousand WingStreet stores a year were opened. On October 19, 2009, Company president Scott Bergren publicized WingStreet's national launch.
An East Dawning test cafeteria-style restaurant was opened in Shanghai in 2004. After initially failing, Yum! Brands chose the KFC business model (KFC is the most successful Western chain in China) and found greater success. As of September 30, 2007, eight East Dawning restaurants were in operation.
International focus
In January 2011, Yum! announced its intentions to dispose of its Long John Silver's and A&W brands to focus on its core brands of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. For the decade leading up to the company's announcement, major growth had relied on international expansion. With little presence outside North America, the two chains no longer fit in the company's long-term growth plans. The foreign expansion—particularly that of Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut—was cited in the firm's January 18, 2011, announcement of its intention to dispose of the A&W and Long John Silver's chains. Both of those chains also suffered from poor sales, and had fewer locations compared to the other chains in the Yum! Brands portfolio. In September 2011, Yum! announced they had found buyers for the A&W and Long John Silver's chains. A Great American Brand bought A&W, and Long John Silver's was sold to LJS Partners LLC.
In May 2011, Yum! agreed to purchase Chinese hot pot chain Little Sheep for HK$4.56 billion. The deal spent more than 4 months in antitrust review by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, to determine whether or not the transaction would result in a monopolistic positioning of Yum! in the country's restaurant industry. The Ministry approved the deal in November 2011, according to Little Sheep representatives.
In 2012, a KFC opened in Ramallah and became the first American fast food restaurant to operate in the West Bank; a Pizza Hut was also planned.
In India, Thailand, Nepal, and Nigeria, Yum! Brands operates primarily through its largest franchise partner, Devyani International Limited, which manages numerous KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell outlets.
Yum! Brands opened its 40,000th store in Calangute, Goa, India in October 2013.
In the third quarter of 2013, Yum! Brands had to book an impairment of the goodwill resulting from the takeover of Little Sheep in 2011 in the amount of $222 million, which reduced profits for 2013.
In 2014, Yum! launched a number of additional restaurant test concepts, Super Chix, U.S. Taco Co. and Banh Shop. Yum! opened Super Chix in Central Arlington, Texas, a restaurant similar in format to Chick-fil-A, on April 9, 2014. In the summer of 2014, Yum!'s Taco Bell subsidiary launched its U.S. Taco Co and Urban Tap Room fast-casual taco concept restaurant in Huntington Beach, California, to take on fast casual restaurants like Chipotle and Panera.
In the first quarter of 2015, Third Point Management and Corvex Management separately acquired an unspecified stake in the company. A second Chix unit opened in May 2015 with additional menu items. Super Chix was sold to founder Nick Ouimet and an investment group in August 2015.
In 2017, Yum! announced plans to open 10 Pizza Hut restaurants in Ethiopia, after signing a franchise with the country's Belayab Foods and Franchise PLC.
In January 2020, Yum! announced they were acquiring Irvine, California-based The Habit Burger Grill, for $375 million; the transaction was completed on March 18, 2020. The company was renamed Habit Burger & Grill in 2024.
In 2020 and 2021, Yum! acquired several technology companies. In March 2020, it acquired Heartstyles, an omnichannel training company. In March 2021, it acquired Tictuk Technologies, an Israeli omnichannel ordering and marketing solutions provider, and announced it was acquiring Kvantum Inc., an artificial intelligence-based consumer insights and marketing technology company. In September 2021, Yum! completed the acquisition of Australian kitchen order management and delivery technology company Dragontail Systems for US$69.1 million in cash.
In December 2023, the company announced it will acquire 218 restaurants from its largest franchisee EG Group in the UK and Ireland. After completion in 2024, all of the privately owned EG Group's KFC UK and Ireland businesses will come under Yum's KFC UK and Ireland management.
In April 2026, Yum! was pursuing a deal that would separate the Pizza Hut brand as a private company. Pizza Hut's profitability was lagging behind stronger revenue from Taco Bell, leading to Yum seeking a sale. In June, it was reported that Pizza Hut's mainland China business was to be sold for $1.2 billion to Yum China Holdings, Inc., while the rest of the business was to be sold to LongRange Capital for $1.5 billion. The acquisition in China was completed on August 7, 2026, while the acquisition in the rest of the world was completed on September 1, 2026.
On October 15, 2026, it was announced that KFC will switch from Pepsi to Coca-Cola starting in January 2027, and to be fully completed by spring.
Animal welfare
In 2021, Yum! Brands committed to transitioning to 100% cage-free eggs in the majority of its locations by 2026, and globally by 2030.
From Wikipedia’s article on Yum! Brands, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.6