# Yum! Brands

> Yum! Brands is a Louisville-based restaurant brand owner and franchising platform behind KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and Habit Burger & Grill. Its roughly 1,500 franchisees operated more than 63,000 restaurants in 155 countries and territories in 2025, while Yum! supplied the brands, operating playbooks, marketing scale and an increasingly proprietary technology layer called Byte by Yum!. The company earns primarily from franchise royalties, fees and property income rather than from running most restaurants itself; following its announced $2.7 billion Pizza Hut divestiture, it is sharpening its focus on KFC, Taco Bell, Habit and shared technology.

- **Founded:** 1997
- **Headquarters:** Louisville, United States
- **Founders:** David C. Novak (Co-founder and first CEO)
- **Team size:** Approximately 49,000 corporate and company-operated employees; more than 1 million people across the franchise system in 2025
- **Products:** KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Habit Burger & Grill, Byte by Yum!
- **Notable:** Built a system of more than 63,000 restaurants across 155 countries and territories by 2025., Generated $68.3 billion in 2025 system sales, including nearly $40 billion in digital sales., Reached a digital sales mix of nearly 60% in 2025.

## Products & services

- **KFC** — Global quick-service chicken brand with more than 33,000 restaurants in 149 countries and territories in 2025.
- **Taco Bell** — Mexican-inspired quick-service brand with more than 9,000 restaurants in 38 countries and territories in 2025.
- **Pizza Hut** — Global pizza chain that Yum! agreed to sell in 2026; the China sale closed in August 2026 and the ex-China transaction was announced separately.
- **Habit Burger & Grill** — Fast-casual concept centered on made-to-order chargrilled burgers, sandwiches and sides; acquired by Yum! in 2020.
- **Byte by Yum!** — Proprietary restaurant technology platform spanning online and mobile ordering, point of sale, kitchen and delivery optimization, inventory, labor and AI-enabled operations.
- **Franchise support and brand services** — Brand standards, marketing, development, training, operations, data, supply-chain coordination and technology delivered to franchise partners.

## Achievements

- Built a system of more than 63,000 restaurants across 155 countries and territories by 2025.
- Generated $68.3 billion in 2025 system sales, including nearly $40 billion in digital sales.
- Reached a digital sales mix of nearly 60% in 2025.
- KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut led Entrepreneur's 2026 Franchise 500 rankings and its 2025 Top Global Franchises list.
- Named by TIME as one of the Best Companies for Future Leaders for three consecutive years through 2026.
- Launched Byte by Yum! in 2025 as a common technology platform for restaurant operations.
- Opened new restaurants at an average pace of roughly one every two hours in 2025.

## Latest updates

- **2026-08** — Yum! completed the sale of Pizza Hut China to Yum China Holdings on August 7.
- **2026-07** — Second-quarter results showed 5% worldwide system-sales growth excluding currency, 1,053 gross unit openings, 7% Taco Bell same-store sales growth and 7% KFC unit growth; digital mix excluding Pizza Hut exceeded 60%.
- **2026-07** — Nai De Leon was appointed Chief People & Culture Officer.
- **2026-06** — Yum! entered agreements to sell Pizza Hut for $2.7 billion in aggregate to LongRange Capital and Yum China Holdings, and authorized an additional $4 billion in share repurchases.
- **2026-06** — The company published its 2025 Global Citizenship & Sustainability Report, covering climate, packaging, sourcing and operational resilience.
- **2026-03** — Yum! described global scaling work for Byte by Yum! and its NVIDIA-enabled AI capabilities after proving much of the platform in U.S. restaurants.
- **2025-10** — Chris Turner became Chief Executive Officer, succeeding David Gibbs.

## Links

- Website: https://www.yum.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/yum-brands
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/yumbrands
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yumbrands/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/yum-brands
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-11