Native name 日本KFCホールディングス株式会社 Industry Fast food Headquarters Japan | Traded as TYO: 9873 Area served Japan Founded 4 July 1970 | |
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Formerly called Kentucky Fried Chicken Japan, Ltd. (1970-2014) Key people Masaki Kondo (President) Stock price 9873 (TYO) JP¥ 2,035 -9.00 (-0.44%)16 Mar, 3:00 PM GMT+9 - Disclaimer Owner Mitsubishi Corporation (64.82%) | ||
KFC (the name was originally an initialism for Kentucky Fried Chicken) is a fast food restaurant chain that specializes in fried chicken and is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, United States (US). It is the world's second largest restaurant chain (as measured by sales) after McDonald's, with 18,875 outlets in 118 countries and territories as of December 2013. The company is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, a restaurant company that also owns the Pizza Hut and Taco Bell chains.
Japan is the third-largest market for KFC after China and the United States with 1,165 outlets as of December 2014. In Japan, 70 percent of sales are take-away, with customers tending to buy fried chicken for parties and other special occasions and eating it as a side dish.
History
KFC Japan was originally formed as a joint venture between the American parent and the Japanese Mitsubishi Corporation. Following four years of negotiations, Mitsubishi was awarded the franchise rights to KFC in Japan, and a test store was opened at the Osaka World Expo in March 1970.
After the début proved successful, the first proper store was opened in the suburban location of Nagoya in November 1970. The American parent wanted suburban locations, whereas Mitsubishi argued for city centre locations, as cars had not been widely adopted in Japan at that time. Two more locations were opened in Osaka, but the stores struggled, and after less than a year of operation, had lost JP¥ 100 million. As a result of this failure, Mitsubishi's original plan for urban locations was pursued.
The first outlet under the new approach opened in 1972 in Kobe, an upmarket residential area with a large Western expatriate community. The strategy was a success, and by December 1973, 100 outlets had been opened.
From December 1974, KFC Japan began to promote fried chicken as a Christmas meal, with its long running "Kentucky for Christmas" (Japanese: クリスマスはケンタッキー) advertising campaign. Eating KFC as a Christmas time meal has since become a widely practised custom in Japan.
Harland Sanders himself visited the Japanese operations in 1972, 1978 and 1980. In 1983 there were 390 outlets with annual sales just under $300 million. By this time Japan was KFC's largest single foreign market.
In August 1990, KFC Japan was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. KFC benefited from the economic boom in Japan during the 1980s, and grew to 1,000 outlets with annual sales of $1.2 billion by 1993. However, the rapid expansion of outlets saw franchisees competing for market shares with each other, and around 100 outlets closed down in the mid-1990s.
In 2000, KFC Japan reported sales of nearly $598 million. In December 2007, Mitsubishi assumed majority control of KFC Japan in a JP¥ 14.83 billion transaction.