KFC UK & Ireland has grown its share of system sales by 5% in the first quarter ended 31 March 2023.
The UK market now accounts for 7% of KFC system sales, as reported by parent company Yum! Brands in its first quarter update.
Yum!’s Pizza Hut division achieved system sales growth of 10% within its international business, with same store growth of 5%.
Its Europe business, which includes Pizza Hut’s UK sites, grew its share of Pizza Hut’s overall sales by 3% in the quarter, to 14%.
While Taco Bell’s international system sales, which includes its UK sites, grew by 25% (excluding foreign currency), compared to US system sales growth of 11%.
Yum! Brands’ worldwide system sales, excluding foreign currency translation, grew by 11%, with like-for-like sales growth of 8%.
KFC achieved an overall systems sales increase of 11%, Taco Bell 12% and Pizza Hut 10%.
Overall revenue grew by 6% to $1,645m in the first quarter, from $1,547m in Q1 2022.
David Gibbs, CEO, Yum! Brands, said: “Our first-quarter results continue to illustrate the power of our global portfolio and the advantages of our business model. The demand for our iconic brands is evident as our incredible teams and franchise partners delivered another strong quarter with system sales growth of 13% excluding Russia, driven by 8% same-store sales growth and continued development momentum.
“We’re seeing broad-based accelerating digital sales growth leading to a record quarter for both digital system sales of nearly $7 billion and digital sales mix that exceeded 45%. I’m pleased to see the revenue flow through in the quarter translate to 11% core operating profit growth. We’re proud of the strong start to the year and confident we’ll continue to build on our position as the global franchisor of choice.”
