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Yum Brands closing 7,000 stores globally due to COVID-19

KFC and Pizza Hut brands are expected to close nearly 2,000 of the 7,000 total Yum Brands stores (photo: iStock)

March 25, 2020

Yum Brands is closing 1,000 Pizza Hut Express outlets and at least 900 U.K. KFC stores in a group of 7,000 restaurant outlets the Louisville, Kentucky-based company said it is closing globally, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing and the Louisville Courier-Journal newspaper. 

As the parent company of those two brands, as well as the Mexican-American QSR, Taco Bell, and the fast casual brand it just closed the sale on this month, The Habit Burger Grill, Yum has approximately 50,000 outlets globally.

The SEC filing relayed that the cause for the closings was the current COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions it has placed on Yum Brands' operations worldwide. 

"As we have taken steps in response to the pandemic, our primary focus continues to be the safety of everyone who engages with our brands, including our employees, franchisees and their team members, and customers. … Because this situation is ongoing and because the duration and severity are unclear it is difficult to forecast any impacts on the company's future results," the Courier-Journal reported the filing as stating. 

This website has not received a response to a request for further information from Yum Brands. The SEC filing stated that the company expects its sales to fall through the end of the current quarter on March 31, with the quarter ending at the end of June expected to be impacted even more, the filing said.