Yum! Brands, Inc.(Louisville Originals)(Company overview)

Louisville's own Yum! Brands, Inc., the largest restaurant company in the world, with approximately 35,000 restaurants in 112 countries, is the brain behind such well-known brands as KFC, Long John Silver's, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and A&W Restaurants. In 2006, Yum! opened an average of three new restaurants outside the United States each day of the year, making the company one of the fastest growing retailers in the world. Mainland China is their number one market for new development worldwide.

"Yum!'s formula for success is centered on putting people capability first, because when we do that, we satisfy our customers and generate more profits," said Virginia Ferguson. "In addition, Yum! is building a vibrant global business by focusing on key growth strategies: building dominant restaurant brands in China, driving profitable international expansion, improving U.S. brands positions and returns and driving high-ROIC and strong shareholder payout."

The Yum! China Division, which includes mainland China, Thailand and KFC Taiwan, is based in Shanghai and has more than 2,800 system restaurants. In 2006, the operating profits for Yum! China were $290 million. KFC is the number one quick-service restaurant brand, with approximately 2,000 restaurants in 420 cities in mainland China, and Pizza Hut is currently the number one casual dining brand with 300 restaurants in 60 mainland China cities.

Yum! Brands has also been named one of Fortune Magazine's "Top 50 Employers for Minorities," for the past four years; it has also been named one of the "Top 50 Employers for Women," by Fortune and one of the "Top 15 Companies for In-kind Corporate Philanthropy," by ...