Yum! Brands Appoints Sam Su to Board of Directors ; Retains position as President, China Division

By: Yum! Brands | 1,021 Shares 83 Reads

March 21, 2008 // Franchising.com // LOUISVILLE, KY.,- Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE: YUM) today announced that Sam Su, 55, has been appointed to the Board of Directors as Vice Chairman, maintaining his position as President of the China Division. He will continue to reside in Shanghai in this capacity for the long-term.

"Sam Su is the pre-eminent pioneer of a booming restaurant category in the world's fastest growing economy. He is doing an outstanding job building leading brands in China in every significant restaurant category, which is our number one growth strategy. His long-term commitment to leading our China business has and will continue to drive breakthrough results. I am very pleased Sam is joining our Board of Directors as Vice Chairman, given his overall knowledge of the business and the unique perspective he brings from this rapidly expanding and highly profitable market," said David C. Novak, Yum! Brands Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

The China Division operates across 450 cities in Mainland China, with 2,140 KFC quick service restaurants, 351 Pizza Hut casual dining restaurants, and 53 Pizza Hut Home Service units. It also has created and is testing East Dawning, a quick service restaurant concept serving Chinese food. The Company outpaces its nearest competitor, McDonald's, by more than 1,000 restaurants in China, and is outpacing their development by a roughly 3:1 pace. In 2007, the Company's China Division added a record 471 new-restaurant openings and delivered 30% operating profit growth. Recent Chinese government studies indicate the middle class in Mainland China is over 250 million people, with an economy growing in the low double-digits, creating significant long-term demand for the Company's brands and rapid new-unit development. The China Division also includes KFC in Taiwan and KFC and Pizza Hut in Thailand.

Yum! Brands, Inc.

Yum! Brands Inc., based in Louisville, Kentucky, is the world's largest restaurant company in terms of system restaurants with more than 35,000 restaurants, which includes over 2,000 licensed restaurants, in more than 110 countries and territories. Four of the company's restaurant brands -- KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and Long John Silver's -- are the global leaders of the chicken, pizza, Mexican-style food and quick-service seafood categories respectively. Yum! Brands is the worldwide leader in multibranding, which offers consumers more choice and convenience at one restaurant location from a combination of KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, A&W or Long John Silver's brands. The company and its franchisees today operate over 3,900 multibrand restaurants. Outside the United States in 2007, the Yum! Brands' system opened about three new restaurants each day of the year, making it one of the fastest growing retailers in the world. For the past four years, the company has been recognized as one of Fortune Magazine's "Top 50 Employers for Minorities." It also has been recognized as one of the "Top 50 Employers for Women" by Fortune, one of the "40 Best Companies for Diversity" by Black Enterprise Magazine for the past three years, one of Black Enterprise Magazine's "30 Hottest Franchises for 2006," one of the "Corporate 100 Companies Providing Opportunities for Hispanics" by Hispanic Magazine, one of the "Top 50 Corporations for Supplier Diversity" by Hispanic Trends Magazine and by BusinessWeek as one of the "Top 15 Companies for In-Kind Corporate Philanthropy."

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