KFC to acquire 218 EG Group KFC restaurants in the UK

Yum! Brands’ KFC Division has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire over 200 KFC restaurants from EG Group, the company’s largest KFC franchisee in the UK and Ireland. KFC UK and Ireland has a strong track record of consistent growth that has continued this year, with system sales up 7% and same-store sales up 5% across its 1,040 restaurants.

Since 2018, KFC has opened 200 new restaurants across the UK and Ireland, and with the market demonstrating renewed potential since the start of 2023, KFC has previously announced plans to open a further 500 restaurants across the market by 2030. Once completed, all of EG’s KFC UK and Ireland business – over half of which is made up of drive-throughs – and 7,800 team members will come under KFC UK and Ireland management.

Meg Farren, managing director of KFC UK and Ireland, said: “With the market for high-quality, great-tasting chicken growing all the time, we see a big opportunity to capitalise on our leadership position and to unlock new value for all our stakeholders in the UK and Ireland. On behalf of all of us on the management team, I want to welcome EG’s KFC restaurant team members even closer into the KFC family.”

Zuber Issa and Mohsin Issa, CBE, co-founders and co-chief executive officers of EG Group, added: “We are proud to have been a strategic partner of KFC in the UK and Ireland, playing an important role in helping the brand expand its footprint. Now is the right time to hand the baton to the KFC leadership team to continue to grow the brand in the UK.”

Yum! Brands says that it anticipates finalising the transaction by the end of the first half of 2024.

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