KFC has been associated with Kentucky since Colonel Harland Sanders first started serving his fried chicken there nearly a century ago. But the fast-food chicken chain is moving its U.S. operations out of the state, KFC parent Yum Brands announced Tuesday.
About 100 KFC U.S. corporate workers will be relocated to the KFC and Pizza Hut Global headquarters in Plano, Texas, over the next six months, Yum said. Another 90 remote Yum workers will be relocated to the “campus where their work happens” over the next 18 months, the company said.
Yum Brands and the KFC Foundation will retain corporate offices in Louisville, while Yum brands Taco Bell and Habit Burger & Grill will keep their headquarters in Irvine, California.
The move comes as KFC’s U.S. business struggles, posting a 5% decline in same-store sales during the fourth quarter, the fourth straight period in which same-store sales have fallen at least that much.
Last week, the fast-food chicken chain said Catherine Tan-Gillespie would become chain president in April, following the retirement of Tarun Lal. And that appointment comes just a month after Scott Mezvinsky, former president of Taco Bell North America, was named KFC CEO.
Moving KFC U.S. workers to the KFC and Pizza Hut Global headquarters in Plano is designed to “foster greater collaboration among brands and employees,” Yum said.
U.S. based Yum employees who have been working remotely will need to relocate to the campus where their work is based, the company said.
“These changes position us for sustainable growth and will help us better serve our customers, employees, franchisees and shareholders,” CEO David Gibbs said in a statement. “Ultimately, bringing more of our people together on a consistent basis will maximize our unrivaled culture and talent as a competitive advantage. I’m confident this is another important step in growing our iconic restaurant brands globally.”
The company said all affected employees will receive “relocation and transition support.”
Even as it moves some workers out of the state, Yum said it will fund a $1 million endowment to the College of Business at the University of Louisville to sponsor scholarships.
Yum also said it intends to build a “first-of-its-kind flagship” KFC restaurant in Louisville, though it did not provide any further details.
Louisville-based Yum Brands franchises or operates more than 61,000 restaurants in more than 155 countries.
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