In 1993 Henry J. McGovern, Donald M. Kendall Sr., Donald M. Kendall Jr., and Christian R. Eisenbeiss established American Restaurants Services. Initially, the company held franchise rights to operate Pizza Hut and KFC restaurants in western Poland. In 1998, it expanded its operations outside Poland, by taking over KFC and Pizza Hut locations in the Czech Republic which were previously run by Yum! Brands.
In 2000, AmRest Holdings was formed as a joint venture company between American Restaurants and Yum! Brands, and in 2001 the new company took over International Fast Food Polska, the operator of the Burger King locations in Poland. Out of the 23 Burger King restaurants acquired, the Company closed 6 and rebranded the remaining 17 into KFC. In 2005, the company acquired the remaining franchise for Yum! concepts in the Czech Republic and Poland becoming the exclusive KFC and Pizza Hut franchisee in those countries. In 2006 AmRest bought the rights to seventeen KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants in Hungary and launched new Freshpoint and Rodeo Drive brands.
AmRest debuted on the stock market in April 2005 and Yum exited the company as a shareholder. In May 2005 AmRest acquired 8 Big Food restaurants in Czech Republic, and rebranded them into KFC.
In 2007 AmRest opened its first new Burger King restaurant in Poland, the first KFC restaurants in Serbia and Bulgaria and signed joint venture agreements with Starbucks about opening the coffee chain's stores in Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary. In 2008 company signed agreements about opening Burger King in Bulgaria and acquired several restaurants in Russia. In January 2008 AmRest opened first Starbucks store in Prague. The company opened its first Starbucks location in Poland in 2008.
In May 2008, AmRest acquired 80% shares in Apple Grove Holding, the second biggest Applebee's franchisee in the United States.[3]
In April 2010, Warburg Pincus, a premier private equity firm, offered to invest over 300 million pln for a 24.99% shareholding in AmRest.[4] In 2010, AmRest also opened the first Starbucks in Hungary.
In April 2011 AmRest announced the acquisition of Spanish company Restauravia, operating 30 KFC's and over 120 Italian Casual Dining restaurants La Tagliatella. La Tagliatella was announced to be one of the main drivers of AmRest's global expansion. But the result of AmRest's attempts since 2012 for developing La Tagliatella chain of restaurants outside Spain was without success.[5] Locations opened in China, India and the United States closed quickly. The subsidiary in France, which operates the group's five restaurants, generated a loss of 2.9 million euros in 2017, a total of 11.7 million euros since 2012.
AmRest LLC, which operated 102 Applebee's restaurants in the United States was sold to American Apple Group, the largest franchisee of Applebee's on June 7, 2012.
On December 14, 2012, AmRest acquired Blue Frog and Kabba restaurant brands in China.
AmRest has increased the number of countries in which it operates Starbucks after acquiring the coffee shops operated by Greek Marinopoulos Coffee in Romania and Bulgaria in March 2015. In April 2016, AmRest also bought 144 Starbucks coffee shops in Germany for 41 million euros.
In 2017, the company moved its headquarters from Poland to Madrid, Spain.[6]
AmRest acquired the Sushi Shop restaurant chain in France in July 2018. Burger King returned to Slovakia after AmRest opened a restaurant in November 2018.[7]
In April 2019, AmRest opened the first Starbucks cafe in Serbia.[8] It also returned Burger King in Romania by opening first restaurants in Bucharest, after 7 years break, in which only the airport location was operated.[9]
On February 1, 2022, Burger King terminated its franchising contract with AmRest, which means no new Burger King restaurants would be opened in Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria.[10][11] In March 2022, Amrest suspended its operations in Russia due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine;[12] in 2023, the company sold its Russia-based KFC business to Russian franchise holder Smart Service for at least 100 million euros.[13][14]
KFC is an American fast food restaurant chain headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, that specializes in fried chicken. It is the world's second-largest restaurant chain after McDonald's, with 22,621 locations globally in 150 countries as of December 2019. The chain is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, a restaurant company that also owns the Pizza Hut and Taco Bell chains.
Pizza Hut is an American multinational pizza restaurant chain and international franchise founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas by Dan and Frank Carney. The chain, headquartered in Plano, Texas, operates 19,866 restaurants worldwide as of 2023.
A fast-food restaurant, also known as a quick-service restaurant (QSR) within the industry, is a specific type of restaurant that serves fast-food cuisine and has minimal table service. The food served in fast-food restaurants is typically part of a "meat-sweet diet", offered from a limited menu, cooked in bulk in advance and kept hot, finished and packaged to order, and usually available for take away, though seating may be provided. Fast-food restaurants are typically part of a restaurant chain or franchise operation that provides standardized ingredients and/or partially prepared foods and supplies to each restaurant through controlled supply channels. The term "fast food" was recognized in a dictionary by Merriam–Webster in 1951.
Yum! Brands, Inc., formerly Tricon Global Restaurants, Inc., is an American multinational fast food corporation listed on the Fortune 1000. Yum! operates the brands KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and The Habit Burger Grill, except in China, where the brands are operated by a separate company, Yum China. Yum! previously also owned Long John Silver's and A&W Restaurants. The company was created as a spin-off of PepsiCo in 1997.
Restaurant Brands New Zealand Limited, trading as Restaurant Brands, is a New Zealand fast food company. Restaurant Brands currently operates and owns the master franchising rights for the Carl's Jr., KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell brands in New Zealand. Restaurant Brands operates most of New Zealand's stores for the brands they own rights to and provides management and support services to New Zealand's independent franchisees of the remaining stores.
The majority of the locations of international fast-food restaurant chain Burger King are privately owned franchises. While the majority of franchisees are smaller operations, several have grown into major corporations in their own right. At the end of the company's fiscal year in 2015, Burger King reported it had more than 15,000 outlets in 84 countries; of these, approximately 50% are in the United States and 99.9% are privately owned and operated. The company locations employ more than 37,000 people who serve approximately 11.4 million customers daily.
Competitive Foods Australia (CFA) is the largest franchiser of restaurants in Australia. It is owned and operated by Jack Cowin. Its units are Hungry Jack's and, previously, some KFC stores.
Kout Food Group K.S.C.C. is a Kuwaiti-based conglomerate, founded in 1982, operating in Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Iraq, and formerly in the United Kingdom. The business also offer catering services, import and export of food related items, representation of foreign companies as well as advising others in such businesses.
KFC was founded by Colonel Harland Sanders, an entrepreneur who began selling fried chicken from his roadside restaurant in Corbin, Kentucky, during the Great Depression. Sanders identified the potential of restaurant franchising, and the first "Kentucky Fried Chicken" franchise opened in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1952. KFC popularized chicken in the fast-food industry, diversifying the market by challenging the established dominance of the hamburger. Branding himself "Colonel Sanders", the founder became a prominent figure of American cultural history, and his image remains widely used in KFC advertising. The company's rapid expansion made it too large for Sanders to manage, so in 1964 he sold the company to a group of investors led by John Y. Brown Jr. and Jack C. Massey.
Western-style fast food in mainland China is a fairly recent phenomenon, with Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) establishing its first Beijing restaurant in November 1987. This location was met with unprecedented success, and served as a model for many local Chinese restaurants that followed it.
The Habit Burger Grill is a California-based fast casual restaurant chain that specializes in chargrilled hamburgers. The company also sells other typical fast-casual fare. It was founded in 1969 at Santa Barbara, California, and its headquarters are in Irvine, California.
GPS Hospitality is a privately held company that is primarily a franchisee for quick service restaurants (QSR), including Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Burger King and Pizza Hut. GPS Hospitality was founded by Thomas A. Garrett in 2012 and has over 10,000 employees.
James Bodenstedt is the former President and CEO of MUY! Brands, an operator of franchised restaurants, including Wendy's and the Yum! Brands of Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut, and others. He and his wife were major donors to President Donald Trump's 2020 election campaign, donating more than $1 million. MUY! Brands and its subsidiaries were among the first companies to receive coronavirus relief aid by the Trump administration.
KFC is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, one of the largest restaurant companies in the world! KFC had sales of $23 billion in 2013. KFC is incorporated under Delaware General Corporation Law, and has its headquarters at 1441 Gardiner Lane, Louisville, Kentucky, in a three-story colonial style building known colloquially as the "White House" due to its resemblance to the US president's home. The headquarters contain executive offices and the company's research and development facilities.
The hospitality industry in New Zealand is a major industry operating around the country. It is one of the largest employment sectors in the country, contributing about 1.7% of GDP, equivalent to NZ$5 billion annually.
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€1.546 billion (2018)
€41.3 million (2018)
