Hilary Russ

NEW YORK, (Reuters) – Yum Brands Inc., the parent company to KFC fried chicken chain, announced that it is halting investment in Russia. Russia was a crucial market for Yum Brands Inc., which helped KFC achieve record-breaking growth last year.

Yum said that it would suspend operations at 70 KFC-owned restaurants across the country. It also announced that it had reached an agreement with its master franchisor to close all Pizza Hut Russian restaurant operations.

Yum said Monday in a posting on its website that it has “stopped all investment in Russia” and that 50 Pizza Hut and KFC restaurants are in Russia. These locations are almost all franchisees.

Yum is able to operate the restaurants independently by franchising agreements. This means that Yum has less control than if it owned them, but there are also fewer operational and financial risks.

KFC executives stated that last year saw record-breaking growth, with new KFC restaurants opening in China and India, as well as Russia.

KFC International had more than 2400 gross outlets in 2021. The company opened about 100 restaurants per year in Russia and was planning to keep up the “same expansion strategy” going forward.

Many businesses have started to leave Russia because of sanctions and anger over Ukraine’s invasion. More companies are being asked to join the ranks of those who have already done so.

McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE 🙂 stated Tuesday that all its 847 restaurants in Russia, including Pushkin Square, would be temporarily closed. The announcement comes amid increasing pressure for other international brands to also halt operations in Russia following the invasion of Ukraine by Moscow.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ 🙂 Inc and other global brands have felt pressured by investors, consumers, and others to leave Russia.