Yum! Brands is partnering with Singapore-based Yoma Strategic Holdings to debut a KFC restaurant in Myanmar in 2015. Not only will this be the first KFC restaurant to open in Myanmar, but also the first U.S.-based fast-food chain to enter the Myanmar market.
According to a Reuters report, global companies have been lining up to take advantage of a growing market in Myanmar, which has been opening up since 2011 after a military dictatorship ended.
"With 50 million people and a growing middle class with disposable income, the country offers significant consumer opportunity for Yoma Strategic to grow KFC over the long term," Yoma said in a statement.
Yoma, a Myanmar-focused diversified real estate company, said the KFC franchise would initially focus on Yangon, the country's largest city.
"The development plans call for initial market entry in Yangon and expansion to second/third-tier cities within the country is always a possibility," JR Ching, head of business development at Yoma Strategic, told Reuters in an email.
Business plans for the future KFC location in Myanmar are still being finalized, so further details were not released.
Yum! Brands, in addition to being the parent company of KFC, owns popular restaurant chains Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.
