Yum China Holdings will expand its restaurant portfolio to 10,000 stores by 2021 as part of its growth strategy for this year.
The company announced this move as part of its strategic priorities and growth initiatives outlined for this year.
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As part of the strategy, Yum China is planning to expand the presence of its KFC brand to further 1,000 cities across the country as part of its growth strategy.
KFC will also continue to focus on its menu development, digital and delivery capabilities and asset innovation across China.
The company has signed agreements with Sinopec and China National Petroleum (CNPC) to establish franchise restaurants at over 50,000 gas stations of the two companies across China.
The agreement will see the development of more than 100 stores over the next three years.
Yum China said that its Pizza Hut brand will capitalise on the growth to continue transformative initiatives at scale this year.
Pizza Hut will also complete remodelling of its store portfolio by 2021 by enhancing its digital and delivery capabilities, executing disruptive value campaigns, and accelerating asset upgrades.
Yum China CEO Joey Wat said: “The rapid adoption of digital and delivery technologies has had a transformative impact on the restaurant industry over the past five years.
“This is creating significant opportunities to improve our operations and build stronger connections with our customers. We are excited by this trend and are embracing innovation throughout every area of our business to power our growth.
“We look forward to continuing to push the boundaries of technology and implement more innovations to enhance efficiency and create more unique and exciting dining experiences for our customers while generating strong returns for our shareholders.”
Yum China will focus on accelerating its recently announced artificial intelligence (AI) menu concept at KFC to offer personalised menu recommendations and AI-powered forecasting of transaction volume to improve labour scheduling and reduce wastage.
The company is also planning to transition to a trade zone focused, multi-brand platform in order to optimise delivery services and improve efficiency using the Delivery 3.0 initiative.
