LOUISVILLE KY. —Yum! Brands Inc. has outlined “dramatic change” for its domestic business that would include yet another attempt to find a following for non-fried chicken at KFC while also debuting pasta dishes at Pizza Hut and launching a breakfast daypart at Taco Bell.
The changes are being made, Yum said, to improve flagging U.S. results, the only lagging geographic segment in the franchisor’s 35,000-plus-unit global system. On the American home front, Yum’s chains have suffered of late as a result of changing consumer tastes and strong competition from McDonald’s and others. —Yum! Brands Inc. has outlined “dramatic change” for its domestic business that would include yet another attempt to find a following for non-fried chicken at KFC while also debuting pasta dishes at Pizza Hut and launching a breakfast daypart at Taco Bell.
Skeptical foodservice analysts, however, warn that menu items alone may not be enough to jump-start Yum’s sluggish stateside business, and they cite prior attempts by KFC to promote such lackluster lines as Tender Roast chicken. —Yum! Brands Inc. has outlined “dramatic change” for its domestic business that would include yet another attempt to find a following for non-fried chicken at KFC while also debuting pasta dishes at Pizza Hut and launching a breakfast daypart at Taco Bell.
Yum has said it wants to attain a same-store sales gain of 2 percent to 3 percent this year for its KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut chains, versus their flat U.S. same-store performance last year. —Yum! Brands Inc. has outlined “dramatic change” for its domestic business that would include yet another attempt to find a following for non-fried chicken at KFC while also debuting pasta dishes at Pizza Hut and launching a breakfast daypart at Taco Bell.
The company said KFC will market new grilled and portable chicken products and will mount a new advertising campaign that would present a “more youthful and contemporary image” for one of the industry’s oldest quick-service concepts. —Yum! Brands Inc. has outlined “dramatic change” for its domestic business that would include yet another attempt to find a following for non-fried chicken at KFC while also debuting pasta dishes at Pizza Hut and launching a breakfast daypart at Taco Bell.
The nonfried-chicken items aren’t expected until 2009, Yum said, but the new advertising campaign would begin next month. Also in March, KFC expects to introduce a “value-priced, toasted wrap,” the parent company said. A grilled, pressed “portable” product will follow later in the year. Both of those items would seek to boost traffic during lunch, a day-part that KFC has struggled to wrestle away from big burger chains. —Yum! Brands Inc. has outlined “dramatic change” for its domestic business that would include yet another attempt to find a following for non-fried chicken at KFC while also debuting pasta dishes at Pizza Hut and launching a breakfast daypart at Taco Bell.
McDonald’s last year scored big sales gains after launching its Snack Wrap chicken items. —Yum! Brands Inc. has outlined “dramatic change” for its domestic business that would include yet another attempt to find a following for non-fried chicken at KFC while also debuting pasta dishes at Pizza Hut and launching a breakfast daypart at Taco Bell.
“I have seen the analyst reports that reflect a lot of skepticism about our ability to accomplish this transformation in the U.S., and I have sent them out to everybody,” David Novak, Yum’s chairman and chief executive, said during a Feb. 5 conference call with investors and analysts. “I understand that many will not believe it until they see it.” —Yum! Brands Inc. has outlined “dramatic change” for its domestic business that would include yet another attempt to find a following for non-fried chicken at KFC while also debuting pasta dishes at Pizza Hut and launching a breakfast daypart at Taco Bell.
Novak said the company would disclose more details and results of a taste test at its investor conference in May. —Yum! Brands Inc. has outlined “dramatic change” for its domestic business that would include yet another attempt to find a following for non-fried chicken at KFC while also debuting pasta dishes at Pizza Hut and launching a breakfast daypart at Taco Bell.
Taco Bell struggled through much of 2007 to recover from the chain’s linkage to an E. coli illness outbreak and a highly publicized rat infestation at a since-shuttered Taco Bell-KFC unit in New York. The chain’s turnaround plans now include a targeting of high-end and lower-end consumers, continued breakfast testing, and new beverage options that Yum hopes will rival those at Sonic. Taco Bell’s new Frutista Freeze is scheduled to debut this summer. —Yum! Brands Inc. has outlined “dramatic change” for its domestic business that would include yet another attempt to find a following for non-fried chicken at KFC while also debuting pasta dishes at Pizza Hut and launching a breakfast daypart at Taco Bell.
The high-low pricing strategy, which has worked well for McDonald’s and Burger King, is reflected in Taco Bell’s new Fiesta platters and its 99-cent cheesy bean-and-rice burrito. —Yum! Brands Inc. has outlined “dramatic change” for its domestic business that would include yet another attempt to find a following for non-fried chicken at KFC while also debuting pasta dishes at Pizza Hut and launching a breakfast daypart at Taco Bell.
“I think we definitely have turned a corner,” Novak said regarding Taco Bell’s performance. —Yum! Brands Inc. has outlined “dramatic change” for its domestic business that would include yet another attempt to find a following for non-fried chicken at KFC while also debuting pasta dishes at Pizza Hut and launching a breakfast daypart at Taco Bell.
Yum this month reported that U.S. Taco Bell sales improved for the last three months of 2007 to a flat year-over-year result after declining for the first nine months of the year. —Yum! Brands Inc. has outlined “dramatic change” for its domestic business that would include yet another attempt to find a following for non-fried chicken at KFC while also debuting pasta dishes at Pizza Hut and launching a breakfast daypart at Taco Bell.
Pizza Hut, too, will undergo some serious changes this year, Yum executives said. Last month the chain introduced a value-oriented three-for-$15 product, the Pizza Mia, as well as a line of Tuscany Pastas. Chicken products from the co-branded Wing Street concept also will be promoted. —Yum! Brands Inc. has outlined “dramatic change” for its domestic business that would include yet another attempt to find a following for non-fried chicken at KFC while also debuting pasta dishes at Pizza Hut and launching a breakfast daypart at Taco Bell.
Yum said franchisees have backed many of the initiatives through investment in new equipment and a vote to increase national advertising. —Yum! Brands Inc. has outlined “dramatic change” for its domestic business that would include yet another attempt to find a following for non-fried chicken at KFC while also debuting pasta dishes at Pizza Hut and launching a breakfast daypart at Taco Bell.
The urgency to overhaul menu marketing for its U.S. system was reflected in this month’s report of flat fourth-quarter corporate earnings on weak domestic sales, aggravated by sharply rising food costs that suppressed still-strong international results. Among standout overseas results was the KFC-driven, 42-percent system sales jump in mainland China and a 17-percent same-store sales rise there over the prior fourth quarter. —Yum! Brands Inc. has outlined “dramatic change” for its domestic business that would include yet another attempt to find a following for non-fried chicken at KFC while also debuting pasta dishes at Pizza Hut and launching a breakfast daypart at Taco Bell.
Same-store sales for the blended U.S. system, including Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut, rose 1 percent for the fourth quarter, but domestic operating profit fell 1 percent to $196 million as restaurant margins declined 1.4 percent on steep food cost inflation. —Yum! Brands Inc. has outlined “dramatic change” for its domestic business that would include yet another attempt to find a following for non-fried chicken at KFC while also debuting pasta dishes at Pizza Hut and launching a breakfast daypart at Taco Bell.
Yum posted quarterly net earnings of $231 million, down $1 million from the fourth quarter of 2006, on an 8-percent increase in total revenue to $3.26 billion. Rising costs, particularly a 12-percent spike for food and paper at all Yum-owned restaurants, worth $97 million, hampered corporate profit, as did a 16-percent increase in general and administrative costs, worth $65 million. —Yum! Brands Inc. has outlined “dramatic change” for its domestic business that would include yet another attempt to find a following for non-fried chicken at KFC while also debuting pasta dishes at Pizza Hut and launching a breakfast daypart at Taco Bell.
Full-year net earnings rose 10 percent to $909 million on a 9-percent increase in corporate revenue to $10.4 billion. —Yum! Brands Inc. has outlined “dramatic change” for its domestic business that would include yet another attempt to find a following for non-fried chicken at KFC while also debuting pasta dishes at Pizza Hut and launching a breakfast daypart at Taco Bell.