YUM! Brands, Inc. (Public, NYSE:YUM) is a quick service restaurant (QSR) with over 36,000 units in more than 110 countries and territories. Through the five concepts of KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, LJS and A&W (the Concepts), the Company develops, operates, franchises and licenses a worldwide system of restaurants, which prepare, package and sell a menu of food items.
Yum! is a Fortune 500 corporation based in Louisville, Kentucky, it is the world's largest fast food restaurant company in terms of system units and global sales totaled more than US$11 billion.
Yum! was created on October 7, 1997, as Tricon Global Restaurants, Inc. an independent company, as a result of a spin-off from PepsiCo, which owned and franchised the KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell brands worldwide. Because of the company's previous relationship with Pepsi, Yum! Brands has a lifetime contract with PepsiCo, with notable exceptions being the contract of A&W Restaurants with Dr Pepper Snapple Group to be the exclusive restaurant provider of A&W Root Beer, and the contracts of franchisees such as HMSHost and college-operated locations with Coca-Cola which override Yum's lifetime PepsiCo contract.
The Company either operates units or they are operated by independent franchisees or licensees under the terms of franchise or license agreements. In addition, the Company owns non-controlling interests in Unconsolidated Affiliates in China who operate similar to franchisees.
YUM’s business consists of three segments: United States, YUM Restaurants International (YRI) and the China Division. The China Division includes mainland China (China), Thailand and KFC Taiwan, and YRI includes the remainder of its international operations.