KFC Opens 700th Restaurant in China

KFC, a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. and the leading quick-service Restaurant chain in China, announced the grand opening of the country's 700th KFC restaurant. The new restaurant is located in Shenzhen.

"KFC is rapidly building on its dominant position as the leading quick-service restaurant company in China," said J. Samuel Su, president of Yum! Brands International Greater China. "We are capitalizing on the brand's wide consumer appeal, strong infrastructure and established processes and resources," said Su.

KFC leads the way as China's largest, oldest and most popular quick-service restaurant chain with locations in approximately 150 cities. KFC was the first QSR to enter China in 1987 in Beijing. KFC had approximately 200 restaurants in 1997 and has quickly grown to 700 today.

KFC is also considered the most popular international brand throughout China, ranking higher than all others, according to a consumer survey conducted by ACNielsen.

The company's success in China is attributed to a seasoned management team, marketplace expertise, talented franchisees, and a highly motivated 40,000-member workforce focused on Customer Mania.

KFC recently announced the debut of China's first drive-thru restaurant in the Asian Olympics Village district of Beijing. The company is capitalizing on China's increasing mobility, fast-paced lifestyle, greater consumer spending power and desire for luxury items such as automobiles. Currently, more than 10 percent of households in Beijing own automobiles and the number continues to increase.

Yum! Brand's number one goal is to drive global expansion with its portfolio of five leading QSR brands. In addition to China, Yum! Brands continues to focus and invest the bulk of its capital in three additional high-growth, high return markets for the company - Mexico, United Kingdom and Korea. The company opened over 1,000 new international restaurants in 2001 and expects to open another 1,000 in 2002. The company's target for new restaurant growth is 5% t 6% pr year in net new international restaurants.