KFC starts to bring home the chicken

KFC Ponsonby staff member Maree Tane-Hohaia copes with yesterday’s lunchtime rush. Picture / Glenn Jeffrey

Restaurant Brands' troublesome fried-chicken chain, KFC, is showing signs of a turnaround after struggling with flagging sales for most of the year.

The fast-food retailer, which operates KFC and Starbucks here, and Pizza Hut in New Zealand and Victoria, had sales of $70 million in the three months to November 29, up $2.4 million on the same period last year.

Shares in the company jumped 5c on the positive result, closing at $1.36 yesterday.

Sales for the company's main KFC brand were $38.3 million for the quarter, slightly up from $37.6 million on the same time last year.

The increase came despite the withdrawal of the delivery business from some KFC stores. Chief executive Vicky Salmon said the company was starting to reap the results of hard work in improving the chain.

The focus in the past year had been on improving the performance of its 87 stores through staff retraining, new products and marketing.

Salmon said growth in KFC's family meal business, and the popularity of the Meteors product released as part of its successful Hot 'n' Spicy chicken promotion, had lifted sales.

The first KFC store to be refurbished with the brand's "new look", at Frankton in Hamilton, should be completed by Christmas.

Salmon described it as a fresher, warmer and friendlier look, designed to encourage people to eat in.

Restaurant Brands was now heading into its busy period, particularly for KFC, she said.

Pizza Hut continued to be one of the company's strongest performers, achieving the highest quarterly volume of pizza sales ever.

Third-quarter sales of $19.9 million, up $1.5 million on the same quarter last year, lifted year-to-date sales to $66.3 million, compared with $63.3 million last year.

The company yesterday opened its 100th Pizza Hut restaurant, in Cambridge - the 10th new outlet of the year.

Sales from its 37 Starbucks coffee stores were $5.5 million for the quarter, up from $5.3 million for the same quarter last year. Year-to-date sales of $18.3 million for Starbucks were up 5 per cent on last year.