By Dhirendra Tripathi

KFC’s parent company Yum! Investing.com After the fourth quarter revenue estimate was beat, Brands (NYSE) were up 4% Wednesday. This is due to strong demand for KFC’s tacos at its restaurants.

As the fast-food pandemic continued to fuel its growth, total revenue grew nearly 9 percent to $1.9billion. The quarter saw the opening of around 1 700 new restaurants.

KFC saw quarterly sales increase by 5% in same-stores, and Taco Bell experienced an 8% rise. Pizza Hut same-store sales rose 3%.

China saw its quarterly revenue drop from last year, as it ordered the shutdown of several major cities in the context of the pandemic. China was the largest market and second-largest for KFC and Pizza Hut, respectively.

Yum continues to experiment with its menu and has launched new items to keep customers interested. It has launched a crispy chicken sandwich taco at Taco Bell, a Detroit-style pizza at Pizza Hut and Beyond Meat’s plant-based faux chicken at KFC.

Taco Bell, KFC and KFC saw their operating margins decrease. This is due to the overall industry impact of higher inputs as well high freight and shipping costs. Pizza Hut’s operating margin grew by only 0.5 percent, due to lower inflation. As a result, at $1.02 per share, Yum!’s earnings fell behind estimates. Yum!’s total expenses and net costs increased by 10% to nearly $1.4 million.