Yum! Brands

• 1. Introduction

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  In 2016, Yum! Brands counted 43,617 restaurants spread across 135 nations and territories. Only 2,859 of them were owned by the company itself. The other 40,758 were run by franchisees. That makes Yum! one of the largest fast food restaurant companies in the world by system units, the count of every outlet carrying one of its names. Those names include KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. Yet the company that owns them has a name that ends in an exclamation point, and a past that began inside a much larger corporation. This documentary asks where that company came from and why it pours one particular soft drink. It asks what happened when it tried to fit two restaurants under a single roof. It also asks what became of its enormous bet on China.

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• 2. Pepsi's Restaurant Years

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  In 1977, PepsiCo stepped into the restaurant business by buying Pizza Hut from its co-founders, Dan and Frank Carney. A year later it bought Taco Bell from founder Glen Bell. In July 1986, R. J. Reynolds sold KFC to PepsiCo, because it needed to pay off debt from its recent purchase of Nabisco.

  In 1990, Hot 'n Now joined the family through Taco Bell, bought from William Van Domelen. It was sold again in 1996. Of about 150 Hot 'n Now restaurants, only one remains, in Sturgis, Michigan. It is now owned by BTND, LLC, which also owns Burger Time.

  PepsiCo kept shopping. California Pizza Kitchen arrived in 1992. In 1993 came Chevys Fresh Mex, D'Angelo Grilled Sandwiches, and the American division of the Canadian chain East Side Mario's. These chains were later sold when PepsiCo left the restaurant business.

  The decision to separate the fast food division was announced in January 1997. The spin-off took effect on the 6th of October 1997. That same year PepsiCo sold its restaurant-supply unit, PepsiCo Food Systems, to Ameriserve Food Distribution Inc. D'Angelo Grilled Sandwiches went to Papa Gino's.

  Until June 1997, the new company went by a placeholder, the Great American Restaurant Company. Then it became Tricon Global Restaurants, parent of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. Tricon chose Louisville as its corporate headquarters, since KFC was already based there. Taco Bell stayed in Irvine, California, and Pizza Hut stayed in Dallas, Texas.

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• 3. An Exclamation Point

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  Since 1997, the company's stock ticker had been YUM, an exclamation meant to express enjoyment of food. In March 2002, Yorkshire Global Restaurants announced it would merge with Tricon. The merger was finalized on the 8th of May 2002, and the name Yum! Brands took effect on the 22nd of May 2002.

  Tricon had bought A&W and Long John Silver's from Grotech in March 2002, shortly before the merger announcement. On the 6th of June 2002, the new company carried out a two-for-one stock split.

  A condition of the PepsiCo spin-off still shapes the drinks in every restaurant. Yum! has a perpetual agreement to serve Pepsi instead of Coca-Cola. Certain markets, such as Israel and New Zealand, are exceptions.

  Shortly after the merger, Long John Silver's and A&W Restaurants, which had both served Coca-Cola products, began switching to Pepsi. A&W kept one product from the old arrangement. It retained A&W Root Beer through a separate deal with Dr Pepper/Seven Up, now Keurig Dr Pepper.

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• 4. Chains Under One Roof

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  In 2000, Tricon began testing multi-branded locations with Yorkshire Global Restaurants, the parent of A&W and Long John Silver's. By March 2002, the test included 83 KFC/A&W restaurants, six KFC/Long John Silver's and three Taco Bell/Long John Silver's. Both companies considered it a success.

  In 2001, KFC opened test restaurants in Austin, Texas, called Wing Works. They sold a chicken wing line with a choice of a few flavored sauces. KFC also hired a consultant to develop a breakfast menu.

  In 2002, Yum! began testing Pizza Hut paired 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.

  In 2003, Yum! launched WingStreet as a hybrid combo unit attached to an existing Pizza Hut franchise. In both 2007 and 2008, a thousand WingStreet stores opened each year. On the 19th of October 2009, company president Scott Bergren publicized WingStreet's national launch.

  When KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut share one outlet, the result has a nickname. People call these joint restaurants "Ken-Taco-Huts."

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• 5. Betting on Abroad

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  On the 18th of January 2011, Yum! announced that it intended to dispose of A&W and Long John Silver's. For the decade before, its major growth had come from expanding overseas. The two chains had little presence outside North America, weak sales, and fewer locations than the others.

  In September 2011, Yum! announced it had found buyers. A Great American Brand, a consortium of A&W franchisees, bought A&W. LJS Partners LLC bought Long John Silver's.

  In 2012, a KFC in Ramallah became the first American fast food restaurant to operate in the West Bank. A Pizza Hut was also planned there.

  In October 2013, Yum! opened its 40,000th store, in Calangute, Goa, India. In India, Thailand, Nepal, and Nigeria, the company operates mainly through its largest franchise partner, Devyani International Limited. That partner manages numerous KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell outlets.

  In 2017, Yum! announced plans to open 10 Pizza Hut restaurants in Ethiopia. The plan came from a franchise agreement with the country's Belayab Foods and Franchise PLC.

  In December 2023, the company announced it would acquire 218 restaurants from the franchisee EG Group in the United Kingdom and Ireland. After completion in 2024, all of EG Group's KFC businesses there came under Yum's own KFC management.

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• 6. The China Question

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  In 2004, Yum! opened a cafeteria-style test restaurant called East Dawning in Shanghai. It failed at first. The company then switched to the KFC business model, and KFC is the most successful Western chain in China. Results improved. As of the 30th of September 2007, eight East Dawning restaurants were in operation.

  In May 2011, Yum! agreed to buy the Chinese hot pot chain Little Sheep for HK$4.56 billion. The deal spent more than four months in antitrust review by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce. The ministry was checking whether Yum! would gain a monopolistic position in the country's restaurant industry. According to Little Sheep representatives, it approved the deal in November 2011.

  In the third quarter of 2013, Yum! had to book a goodwill impairment of $222 million tied to the Little Sheep takeover. That charge reduced the company's profits for 2013.

  On the 20th of October 2015, Yum! announced that it intended to separate into two independent, publicly traded companies. Yum China was spun off on the 1st of November 2016. East Dawning and Little Sheep went with it, and Yum China now operates the restaurant brands in China.

  The split did not cover every Chinese-speaking market. Stores in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan stayed with Yum! Brands. They are franchised through Jardine Restaurant Group, part of Jardine Pacific, a unit of Jardine Matheson.

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• 7. Test Kitchens and New Bets

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  On the 9th of April 2014, Super Chix opened in Central Arlington, Texas. It was a restaurant similar in format to Chick-fil-A. It was one of several test concepts Yum! launched that year, alongside U.S. Taco Co. and Banh Shop.

  In the summer of 2014, Taco Bell opened its U.S. Taco Co and Urban Tap Room fast-casual taco restaurant in Huntington Beach, California. It was meant to compete with fast casual restaurants like Chipotle and Panera.

  In the first quarter of 2015, Third Point Management and Corvex Management each acquired an unspecified stake in the company, separately. A second Chix unit opened in May 2015 with additional menu items. In August 2015, Super Chix was sold to its founder Nick Ouimet and an investment group.

  In January 2020, Yum! announced it would buy the Irvine, California-based Habit Burger Grill for $375 million. The transaction was completed on the 18th of March 2020. The chain was renamed Habit Burger & Grill in 2024.

  The 2020 and 2021 purchases also included technology companies. In March 2020, Yum! bought Heartstyles, an omnichannel training company. In March 2021, it acquired Tictuk Technologies, an Israeli provider of omnichannel ordering and marketing solutions.

  That same month it announced it would acquire Kvantum Inc., which builds consumer insights and marketing technology using artificial intelligence. In September 2021, Yum! completed its purchase of the Australian kitchen order management and delivery technology company Dragontail Systems, for US$69.1 million in cash.

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• 8. Leaders and Next Moves

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  David C. Novak became CEO of Tricon Global on the 1st of January 2000 and chairman of the board on the 1st of January 2001. Greg Creed replaced Novak as CEO on the 1st of January 2015. At the annual meeting in May 2016, Robert D. Walter became non-executive chairman.

  At the end of 2019, Creed retired. David Gibbs, the chief operating officer, was promoted to CEO. In October 2025, Chris Turner succeeded Gibbs.

  Since 2006, Yum! Brands has served as the corporate sponsor of the Kentucky Derby.

  In 2021, Yum! committed to using 100% cage-free eggs in the majority of its locations by 2026. It set 2030 as the target for the whole world.

  As of April 2026, Yum! is pursuing a deal that would separate Pizza Hut as a private company. Taco Bell has produced stronger revenue, while Pizza Hut's profitability has lagged, which led Yum! to seek a sale.

  In January 2026, Yum! announced a 10-year lease in the PNC Tower in downtown Louisville for its new headquarters. It plans to invest $12 million to renovate five floors. The company expects to move 550 employees there in late 2026.

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