Yum China to buy controlling stake in Chinese-style dining franchise brand to expand biz

Yum China has announced to promote balanced diets by offering customers more fruit and vegetable options.

The campaign was launched simultaneously on September 13 at over 6,000 KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell stores nationwide, before gradually expanding to more stores.

A core component of the campaign is the "Fruit and Vegetables 100+" program that encourages customers to add at least 100g of fruit and vegetables to their meals.

KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell will also launch a series of new and updated fruit and vegetable based products in China, while leveraging their digital platforms to raise public awareness of nutrition and healthy eating.

As China's largest restaurant company, Yum China is committed to offering a wide variety of delicious and nutritious foods to customers. To achieve this, the Company focuses on food innovation, upgrading product offerings with recipe changes, using creative ingredient combinations, and adopting multiple cooking methods. For example, at KFC, approximately 80% of non-beverage breakfast menu items are made from the oven or other healthy cooking methods.

Yum China regularly reviews its ingredients and through ingredient optimization has reduced the amount of salt, sugar, and oil in its recipes. KFC alone eliminated about 118 tons of salt from its products between 2018 and the end of 2020. In addition, in 2020, Yum China became one of the first restaurant companies to introduce plant-based products to China when it launched plant-based beef burgers and chicken nuggets at KFC, plant-based beef burgers at Pizza Hut and plant-based beef and pork tacos at Taco Bell.

The latest campaign is designed to support recommendations outlined in the National Health Commission's Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents that adults require a daily intake of 300-500 grams of vegetables to maintain a balanced diet.

Yum China, the operator of fast-food giants KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell in the country, beat earnings expectations in its first report since spinning off from its US parent.

The firm said operating profit for 2016 hit USD640 billion in China, up 31 percent from 2015 when it was a unit of Yum Brands.

The growth came as Yum added 575 new restaurants over the year -- with more than half coming in the final three months -- bringing its total in the country to more than 7,500.

Micky Pant, CEO, said, "We believe the majority of our restaurants in China are yet to be built. Right now, our top priority is consistently delivering positive same-store sales growth."

Same-store sales expanded three percent at KFC but Pizza Hut's performance fell seven percent, it added.

Nevertheless "this was a momentous year for Yum China," Pant said, adding that the new independent firm has enhanced its leading position in the Chinese market.

After three decades in the country, Yum Brands in October split its USD6.9 billion operations as the fast-food industry faces sluggish sales growth with consumers increasingly turning to up market dining options.

The company's China business was also hammered by a tainted meat scandal in mid-2014.

Three months after the spin-off move, Yum China opened China's first Taco Bell, in Shanghai with a menu adapted to local tastes.