TOPIC

/ company

Yum! Brands

Yum! Brands operates or licenses Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut, and other restaurants. It generates more than half of its overall operating profit in China, where it is the biggest Western restaurant operator with roughly 6,000 mostly KFC restaurants.

Chairman / President

David Gibbs

CEO / Managing Director

Tracy Skeans

CFO / Finance Director

Chris Turner

Industry

Food

Website

yum.com

Headquarters address

Yum! Brands RSC, 1900 Colonel Sanders Lane, Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.

Stock Code

NYSE:YUM

Year founded

1997

Lettuce is displayed for sale at a grocery store in the US earlier this year. Photo: Reuters

United States

US declares end to lettuce parasite outbreak that killed 2

Nearly 13,000 people fell ill across 21 states in the nation’s largest recorded cyclosporiasis outbreak.

12 Sep 2026 - 10:14AM

China’s private sector

Global brands in China seek local partners amid market squeeze

17 Jun 2026 - 5:02PM

China’s private sector

Yum China rolls out the dough for mainland’s Pizza Huts in US$1.2b deal

17 Jun 2026 - 6:01PM

Consumers

How Chinese consumers’ changing demands are keeping KFC’s owner on its toes

Yum China CEO Joey Wat banks on fast-food firm’s flexible store format and cheaper products to attract more Chinese consumers.

10 Feb 2026 - 6:29PM

Yum China CEO Joey Wat speaks during the company’s 2025 Investor Conference in Shenzhen. Photo: Handout

Pizza Hut

Pizza shut: iconic chain to close 250 US locations

Yum! Brands targets underperforming restaurants as it conducts a strategic review for Pizza Hut.

6 Feb 2026 - 12:07PM

Consumers

KFC operator Yum China to expand faster amid ‘early signs’ of spending thaw

After earnings exceed estimates, company will add outlets at faster pace than last year, with focus on second-tier cities.

5 Feb 2026 - 1:30PM

McDonald's

McDonald’s Philippine rival Jollibee to list global business in the US by 2027

The spin-off and potential US listing of Jollibee Foods Corporation would include all of the company’s businesses outside its home market.

6 Jan 2026 - 5:15PM

An outlet of the Filipino fast-food chain Jollibee in Hong Kong. Photo: SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Yum China

KFC, Pizza Hut operator Yum China pushes rapid expansion into lower-tier cities

The initiative is expected to increase the fast-food operator’s total number of mainland China stores to 30,000 by 2030.

17 Nov 2025 - 10:37PM

Yum China

Yum China raises target for opening mainland coffee shops

CEO Joey Wat says company is expected to operate 1,700 KCoffee cafes across the country by the end of 2025.

7 Aug 2025 - 4:44PM

Hong Kong stock market

KFC, Pizza Hut operator Yum China adopts AI to spur efficiency, profitability

Digital ordering accounted for about 90 per cent of Yum China’s sales in 2024, backed by its 540 million ‘membership’ consumers.

6 Jul 2025 - 3:33PMvideocam

Yum China is consistently at the forefront of digital adoption, says chief technology officer Leila Zhang. Photo: Handout

Artificial intelligence

Yum China rolls out AI agent, to help, not replace store managers

Aiming to help frontline managers with tasks such as scheduling and inventory management, system aligns with industry’s wider AI push.

22 Jun 2025 - 3:38PM

Yum China’s CEO Joey Wat (centre) and other executives announce the AI tool at the company’s inaugural AI Day event in Shanghai. Photo: Handout

United States

US fast-food chains hold the onions after McDonald’s E coli outbreak

McDonald’s pulls Quarter Pounder from about 20 per cent of its more than 13,000 US restaurants, as other chains remove onions.

25 Oct 2024 - 10:54AM

Banking & finance

KFC, McDonald’s, Haidilao push small-store format in fight for consumers

Fast-food kiosks are sprouting up in mainland cities, as fast-food restaurant chains like Yum China, McDonald’s and Haidilao compete for consumer dollars.

1 Sep 2024 - 9:00AMvideocam

India

India’s crackdown on McDonald’s ‘real cheese’ sparks wider fast-food chain probe

Maharashtra state authorities found some McDonald’s products made use of so-called cheese analogues of vegetable oil, instead of real cheese, and will now probe other global fast-food chains.

27 Feb 2024 - 11:57PM

The Indian state of Maharashtra will inspect numerous global fast food chains, after state authorities found some McDonald’s products made use of so-called cheese analogues of vegetable oil, instead of real cheese. Photo: Shutterstock

China stock market

China price wars help spark US$157 billion rout in mainland consumer stocks

The biggest drags on the MSCI benchmark since the end of September 2023 include Alibaba, Yum China and BYD, which have all been offering big discounts.

14 Jan 2024 - 4:26PM

Consumer stocks have been the worst performers on the MSCI China Index since the end of September 2023. Image: Shutterstock

China's border reopening

KFC and Pizza Hut operator Yum China ups the ante on Chinese cuisine

The company is melding more local specialities into its dishes to cater to budget-conscious consumers as it moves to capitalise on China’s economic recovery after the end of Covid-19 restrictions.

6 Mar 2023 - 12:42PM

Coronavirus China

‘Worst is over’: Pizza Hut operator Yum China to open up to 1,300 stores

Yum China Holdings, which owns the KFC and Pizza Hut restaurant chains in mainland China, will open another 1,100 to 1,300 stores this year.

8 Feb 2023 - 7:36PMvideocam

Food and Drinks

KFC, Pizza Hut’s China operator sees profit slashed in half by Covid curbs

Yum China Holdings said its earnings in the three months ended June 30 came to US$83 million, down 54 per cent from the same period last year after stringent pandemic measures barred diners.

29 Jul 2022 - 7:55PMvideocam

Pedestrians walk past a Pizza Hut restaurant and a KFC restaurant, both operated by Yum China, in Beijing. Photo: Bloomberg

Accounting and auditing

China plans new approach to end deadlock with the US over auditing

The plan relegates the CSRC to the back seat in the auditing dispute between the US and China, from the role it has held since 2016 as the collector and gatekeeper of China’s audit working papers.

24 Mar 2022 - 7:26PM

IPO

How did Joey Wat become leader of China’s largest restaurant company?

She saved the UK’s struggling cosmetics chain Savers, then she maximised profits at KFC China – but how did the millionaire and Fortune 500-listed CEO get where she is today?

5 Oct 2020 - 8:00AM

Banking & finance

Hong Kong bank deposits surge by US$50 billion in August on IPO magnet

HKMA forced to intervene to weaken currency 15 times in September as hot money chases hot Chinese IPOs, secondary listings in the city.

30 Sep 2020 - 11:07PMvideocam

Hong Kong’s monetary authority has intervened 53 times so far this year to weaken its currency amid an inflow of hot money chasing after stock offerings. Photo: Winson Wong

Consumers

Yum China sees delivery business leading coronavirus recovery

The outbreak has accelerated the adoption of food deliveries and takeaway, according to the company, which runs about 10,000 restaurants under brands such as KFC and Pizza Hut on the mainland.

21 Sep 2020 - 10:39PM

Pizza Hut and KFC restaurants in Beijing. Yum China was among the earliest restaurant groups in China to embrace delivery. Photo: Bloomberg

Banking & finance

KFC operator Yum China to raise US$2.2 billion in Hong Kong listing

Yum China, the operator of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell in mainland China, is the latest US-listed firm to raise capital in Hong Kong.

4 Sep 2020 - 10:56PMvideocam

Banking & finance

KFC operator gets approval for stock listing in Hong Kong

The secondary listing of Yum China, the operator of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, could come as soon as September, a source says.

28 Aug 2020 - 5:35PMvideocam

Veganism and vegetarianism

Yum China to bring Beyond Meat's plant-based burgers to China

Beyond Burgers will be introduced as a limited-time offering at select KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell locations in mainland China, Yum China Holdings says.

2 Jun 2020 - 9:42AM

Packages of Beyond Meat plant-based burger patties are displayed for a photograph in Illinois, US, on Tuesday, April 23, 2019. Photo: Bloomberg

Coronavirus pandemic

Coronavirus: KFC operator Yum China forced to shut one-third of stores

Yum China Holdings, the Shanghai-based operator of Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell restaurants in mainland China, has been forced to temporarily close about a third of its restaurants because of the coronavirus outbreak, it said overnight.

6 Feb 2020 - 10:04PMvideocam

Pedestrians wear protective masks in Shanghai on Wednesday. Yum China’s same-store sales grew 3 per cent year on year in 2019, driven by KFC. Photo: Bloomberg

IPO

Yum China to work with CICC, Goldman on second listing in Hong Kong

Yum China Holdings Inc is working with China International Capital Corp and Goldman Sachs on the preparations of a second listing in Hong Kong, fuelling the wave of US-listed Chinese companies returning to a market that is closer to home.

14 Jan 2020 - 10:29PM

Veganism and vegetarianism

KFC to hold US trial of vegan ‘chicken’ nuggets

Fast-food chain working with meat substitute company Beyond Meat for one-day trial that could see item appear on menus across the United States.

27 Aug 2019 - 9:59PM

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