Yum! Brands, the world’s leading restaurant company, announced the opening of its 40,000th restaurant, a flagship KFC store in Goa, India, to spotlight the Company’s emerging market leadership and growth. By 2015, India is expected to have US$1 billion in system sales, which includes company and franchise restaurants. By then, the restaurant company will have over 1,000 KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell outlets in more than 100 cities.

Yum! Brands is the worldwide leader in emerging markets with a two-to-one advantage over the nearest competition. The Company is also a leader in international development opening more than five new restaurants per day outside the US with plans to open a record 1,450 new restaurants in emerging markets this year. Emerging markets represent tremendous growth potential for the Company.

“Together with our growth-ready franchise partners, Yum! Brands plans to invest $10 Billion and have more than 20,000 restaurants in emerging markets by 2020”, said David Novak, Chairman and CEO, Yum! Brands. “With only two restaurants per million people in the top 10 emerging markets, versus 58 restaurants per million in the US, we are only on the ground floor of global growth. India is one of the biggest emerging market opportunities in the world and we are thrilled to celebrate our 40,000th restaurant here.”

India is a key emerging market for Yum! Brands. It has a rapidly growing middle class and a huge, youthful population of more than 1.2 billion people with 65 per cent under the age of 35. It is predicted that India will have the largest consuming class in the world by 2030. India also has a great retail environment and is the sixth largest poultry consumer market in the world. The ‘eating-out’ market is estimated to be $94 Billion and only two per cent is organised with national and international food retail brands.

Niren Chaudhary, President, Yum! Restaurants India said: “Our growth in the country can be attributed to a successful brand building strategy focused on providing exceptional customer service, deep penetration across Tier I and Tier II cities, localised menu offerings and a skilled yet diverse workforce. As we grow our business, we also invest in the local communities with an aim to make a positive impact in the lives of millions of people. Our India business has been making incredible progress, laying the foundation for similar emerging markets where the consuming class is likely to double in five years. We maintain a positive outlook on the Indian market and look forward to reaching the 1,000th restaurant milestone by 2015.”

The new flagship KFC store is located in Goa, which is in India’s western coastal region. The store is based on a theme of ‘Soul, Spirit and Heart’. It takes inspiration from the core brand essence wherein SOUL, stands for KFC’s commitment of great taste and quality reinstating its promise of 'Always Prepared Fresh, World Famous Secret Recipe, Great Tasting Non-Veg and 100 Per Cent Vegetarian Products'; SPIRIT is all about the pleasure of sharing with friends and family and having a great time-out; and lastly, HEART reiterates its belief of giving back to the community in which it operates. Spread across 4,100 square feet, the store can serve over 130 people.

KFC is the fastest growing quick-service restaurant brand in India, tripling in size over the last five years to 296 restaurants. Pizza Hut has been named the number one most trusted food service brand for seven years in a row. Through its brand proposition of ‘Pizzas and much more’ in India, it is currently present across 181 affordable casual dining restaurants and 132 Home Delivery locations. Taco Bell, Yum! Brands’ third international brand and the global leader in the Mexican-style food category, entered India in 2010 in Bangalore and has four restaurants located in the city currently.

With ‘Growth with a Big Heart’ at the centre of everything, Yum! India strongly believes in giving back to the communities in which it works and lives, making a positive difference in the lives of all its customers, associates, franchisees and their families. Yum! India has embraced the global World Hunger Relief initiative and also created a program that employs specially-abled (hearing- and speech-impaired) employees.

Launched in 2007, the Yum! Brands World Hunger Relief initiative spans more than 130 countries and territories across 40,000 KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell restaurants engaging with 1.5 million associates to raise awareness, volunteerism and funds for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and other hunger relief agencies. Over the years, World Hunger Relief has raised over $150 million helping to provide more than 600 million meals to hungry women and children across the world.

Additionally, as part of its employment programme, Yum! Restaurants India has 20 specially-abled KFC stores where hearing and speech impaired people account for about 67 per cent of the total staff. The programme began in 2008 and has been running successfully for over five years. By 2015, Yum! India plans to have 1,000 specially-abled employees running 50 such stores.