KFC
Fried chicken restaurant brand with 34,747 restaurants at 30 June 2026; a division of Yum! Brands headquartered in Plano, Texas, and licensed to Yum China in mainland China.
Industry: Restaurants and franchising | Location: Plano, United States | Founded: 1952
About KFC
KFC, short for Kentucky Fried Chicken, is a fried chicken restaurant brand and a division of Yum! Brands. Yum! reported 33,897 KFC restaurants at the end of 2025 and 34,747 at 30 June 2026, up 7 percent. A February 2025 report put the brand in about 150 countries. KFC's corporate headquarters is in Plano, Texas: Yum! announced in February 2025 that it would move it from Louisville, Kentucky, with about 100 corporate employees relocating over six months.
Harland Sanders began serving fried chicken in 1930 at a roadside motel in Corbin, Kentucky. The first franchise opened near Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1952, run by Pete Harman, and the sign painter Don Anderson coined the name Kentucky Fried Chicken. The large take-out chicken bucket became a staple in 1957, and Sanders sold most of his stock in the company in 1964. According to Wikipedia, PepsiCo bought KFC in 1986 and in 1997 spun off its restaurant division as Tricon Global Restaurants, renamed Yum! Brands in 2002.
Scott Mezvinsky has led the KFC division as chief executive since March 2025, according to Yum!'s 10-K for 2025. He was previously president of Taco Bell North America and International, and he joined Yum! in 2004. Chris Turner became chief executive of Yum! in October 2025.
In China, KFC is run by Yum China Holdings, which holds the exclusive right to operate and sublicense the brand there, excluding Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Yum China had 12,997 KFC restaurants at the end of 2025 and 13,789 at 30 June 2026. In June 2026 Yum! and Yum China agreed financial incentives tied to the growth of KFC China system sales, as part of the Pizza Hut sale agreements.
In February 2026 Yum! said KFC and Taco Bell had delivered another year of outstanding results. After the completion of the Pizza Hut sale on 1 September 2026, KFC is one of the three brands Yum! retains, with Taco Bell and Habit Burger & Grill.
Leadership
- Scott Mezvinsky, Chief Executive Officer, KFC Division