Yum! Brands, Inc.

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Yum! Brands operates two of the world’s largest fast-food chains: KFC and Taco Bell.

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Yum! Brands, Inc. is an American restaurant company that owns the KFC and Taco Bell fast-food chains, as well as Habit Burger & Grill. Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, the company was established in 1997, when PepsiCo, Inc. (PEP) spun off its restaurant businesses into a separate publicly traded company called Tricon Global Restaurants. Five years later, Tricon changed its name to Yum! Brands.

Yum expanded through acquisitions and international growth, becoming one of the world’s largest restaurant companies. Its shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol YUM.

Yum’s three restaurant chains have distinct menus and geographic footprints.

Yum operates primarily through franchising. Rather than owning and running most stores itself, the company grants independent operators the right to open locations using its brands in exchange for fees and royalties based on sales. Franchisees generally pay the costs of opening and operating their restaurants, including rent, equipment, supplies, and employee wages. Yum also operates some locations directly.

Following the $2.7 billion sale of Pizza Hut in 2026, Yum had more than 44,000 restaurants in 151 countries and territories, most of them operated by franchisees. At the end of 2025, before the sale, Yum and its subsidiaries employed about 49,000 people, while its franchised restaurants employed an estimated 1 million more.

Yum Brands traces its origins to PepsiCo, which began expanding into the restaurant business in the 1970s. The soft drink and snack food company acquired Pizza Hut in 1977, Taco Bell in 1978, and Kentucky Fried Chicken in 1986. The acquisitions gave PepsiCo a major presence in the fast-food industry and another way to market and sell its beverages.

But by the mid-1990s, PepsiCo’s restaurant business was struggling with slower sales growth, rising costs, and competition. The company decided to concentrate on its more profitable beverage and snack businesses. In January 1997, PepsiCo said it would spin off its restaurant chains into a separate publicly traded company, allowing each business to pursue its own growth strategy.

The spin-off was completed on October 6, 1997, creating Tricon Global Restaurants, Inc., with headquarters in Louisville. The name was chosen to emphasize the three restaurant chains, which PepsiCo considered iconic brands. Shares of Tricon began trading on the NYSE the following day under the ticker symbol YUM. The transaction also generated $4.5 billion for PepsiCo, which used the proceeds primarily to reduce debt and repurchase shares.

With the deal, Tricon inherited nearly 30,000 restaurants worldwide, including thousands outside the U.S. Under David Novak, who became CEO in 1999, the company expanded internationally while reducing the number of restaurants it operated directly in favor of franchising. By the end of 2000, about 80% of its more than 30,000 restaurants in more than 100 countries and territories were operated by franchisees, licensees, or affiliated companies.

Tricon continued to expand internationally while pursuing a strategy known as multibranding, which combined two or more restaurant chains in a single location. For example, a single restaurant might offer both KFC chicken and Taco Bell tacos, allowing the company to attract more customers and make better use of its space. By the end of 2000, Tricon had nearly 1,200 locations operating under multiple brand names.

In 2002, Tricon acquired the Long John Silver’s seafood chain and A&W Restaurants for $320 million. The deal gave the company more options for combining restaurant menus under its multibranding strategy. The acquisitions also prompted a name change. With five restaurant chains rather than the original three, the company adopted the name Yum! Brands.

Yum also continued opening restaurants overseas, particularly in China and other Asian markets. Its international growth was driven largely by KFC and Pizza Hut, while Taco Bell remained concentrated in the U.S.

By 2011, Yum had concluded that Long John Silver’s and A&W no longer fit its international-expansion strategy. It agreed to sell the chains to separate groups led by franchisees, with both sales completed later that year.

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Yum China became a separate public company in 2016, taking KFC and Pizza Hut operations in mainland China with it.

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During the 2000s, China had become one of Yum’s largest and most important markets, driven largely by the success of KFC and Pizza Hut. Unlike its operations in many other countries, where independent franchisees ran most restaurants, Yum operated much of its China business directly. This model gave the company greater control over restaurant operations but also left it responsible for more of the costs and risks.

Yum’s China business struggled in the early 2010s amid food-safety scandals, growing competition, and slowing sales. Reports that suppliers had provided chicken containing excessive antibiotic residues, followed by a 2014 scandal involving expired meat, raised fears about food safety among Chinese consumers and hurt sales. The setbacks raised questions about Yum’s reliance on China for growth.

Under pressure from activist investors, Yum decided in October 2015 to separate its China operations from the rest of the company and form a new publicly traded company. The spin-off was completed October 31, 2016, creating Yum China Holdings, Inc. (YUMC). Its shares began trading on the NYSE the following day.

Under a long-term licensing agreement, Yum China retained the rights to operate KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell in mainland China, paying Yum a royalty of 3% of restaurant sales. The arrangement allowed Yum to continue earning revenue from its brands in China without directly operating the restaurants.

Yum continued expanding its restaurant business after the China spin-off, acquiring Habit Burger & Grill (founded in California in 1969) in March 2020 for $375 million. The acquisition gave Yum a foothold in the fast-casual restaurant segment, which combines the counter service of fast-food restaurants with made-to-order meals.

In February 2025, Yum reorganized its U.S. offices, moving KFC’s domestic corporate operations from Louisville to Plano, Texas, where KFC and Pizza Hut maintained their global headquarters. Taco Bell and Habit Burger & Grill remained based in Irvine, California. Yum also made plans to move its own headquarters to PNC Tower in downtown Louisville from its longtime Gardiner Lane campus. The company donated the former headquarters property to Jefferson County Public Schools.

Later in 2025, Chris Turner, previously the company’s chief financial and franchise officer, succeeded David Gibbs as chief executive officer on October 1. Gibbs retired after more than three decades with Yum and its predecessor businesses.

Pizza Hut, one of the three restaurant chains that formed Tricon Global Restaurants in 1997, had struggled for years with declining sales and growing competition. Its shift toward takeout and delivery from dine-in restaurants proved costly, and by 2020, Domino’s had overtaken Pizza Hut in both worldwide sales and restaurant count.

In 2026, Yum sold Pizza Hut in two transactions totaling $2.7 billion. At the time, the chain had more than 19,000 restaurants worldwide. Yum China Holdings acquired the chain’s mainland China business for $1.2 billion, while private equity firm LongRange Capital purchased the remaining operations for $1.5 billion. The sale ended Yum Brand’s nearly three-decade ownership of Pizza Hut.