Yum! Brands Global System Sales Rise 1 Pct Amid Restaurant Reopenings

Yum! Brands, Inc. reported on Thursday (Oct. 29) as part of its Q3 earnings that global system sales excluding foreign currency translation increased 1 percent, with 2 percent net-new unit growth and a 2 percent same-store sales drop.

Yum! Brands’ KFC division continued to reopen temporarily closed restaurants and concluded the quarter with approximately 99 percent of them open in a complete or limited capacity.

“The rapid recovery of KFC has largely been driven by off-premise capability, acceleration of digital and the reopening of temporarily closed stores,” Yum! Brands CEO David Gibbs said in a call with analysts.

The division kept innovating on its core menu, including the rollout of the Chicken Chicken sandwich in Canada and The Slab in Australia.

Yum! Brands’ Pizza Hut division continued to reopen temporarily closed locations and concluded the quarter with approximately 96 percent of locations at least partially open in a complete or limited capacity.

Pizza Hut U.S. had “another positive quarter” with 6 percent in same-store sales growth, according to Gibbs.

The Pizza Hut U.S. off-premise channel led to 21 percent same-store sales growth outside of closed Express units and 17 percent same-stores sales growth with the inclusion of closed Express units, according to management.

Yum! Brands’ Taco Bell division continued to reopen temporarily closed stores and concluded the quarter with approximately 80 closures.

“Drive-thru demand skyrocketed this quarter as Taco Bell served over 30 million more cars and was 17 seconds faster year over year,” Gibbs said in the call.

Gibbs noted that the company also unveiled its new Go Mobile asset design in the United States.

“These assets will have a smaller footprint with a big emphasis on digital and off-premise with dedicated mobile pickup lanes and bellhops for outside, in-person ordering,” Gibbs said.

Yum! Brands’ The Habit Burger Grill division continued to reopen temporarily closed stores and concluded the quarter with 97 percent of eateries open in a complete or limited capacity. The division’s same-store sales fell 3 percent in Q3, according to management.

As for its overall results, Yum! Brands reported earnings per share (EPS) excluding special items of $1.01 on revenue of $1.45 billion in Q3. The results exceeded analyst estimates of earnings of 80 cents per share on revenues of $1.42 billion.