Yum! Brands closes sale of its Russian KFC chain to Smart Service

MOSCOW, Apr 17 (PRIME) -- U.S. company Yum! Brands has closed the sale of its KFC restaurant chain in Russia to Izhevsk-based franchisee Smart Service, Yum! Brands said in a statement on Monday.

The deal includes all the company’s KFC restaurants, an operating system, the master franchisee rights, and the Rostic’s brand’s trademark. Smart Service also undertook a liability to rebrand the chain into Rostic’s and keep jobs of the Russian employees.

In March 2022, Yum! Brands suspended operations of the 70 Russian KFC restaurants it owns directly. In November 2022, the Federal Antimonopoly Service approved an application of one of the company’s franchisees, Smart Service, on acquisition of the restaurants. Under the deal, Smart Service will own the 70 restaurants and become the franchiser of 1,058 partnership restaurants, with all the restaurants working under the Rostic’s brand.

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