KFC to open first outlet in Vietnam's capital
HANOI - Kentucky Fried Chicken, the only U.S. fast-food chain in communist-run Vietnam, will open its first outlet in the capital Hanoi next month, a company official said on Friday.
U.S. Yum Brands Inc. (NYSE:YUM - news) KFC Vietnam opened its first restaurant in the Southeast Asian country of 83 million in the southern commercial hub of Ho Chi Minh City in 1997.
It operates 21 outlets in southern Vietnam and plans to add more in other parts of the country, Yum Brands' country manager Pornchai Thuratum said.
"Hanoi is our first target in the north but we will expand to cities and provinces around the capital," he said. "We aim to have up to four restaurants by the end of year in Hanoi."
While new businesses are springing up all over Vietnam, the country has restricted chain restaurants and stores that are common in other parts of the region, including Thailand and the Philippines. KFC's only competitor in Vietnam is Philippine fast-food chain Jolibee Ford Corp (JFC.PS).
Vietnam has domestic chains such as Pho 24, specializing in the popular Vietnamese noodle soup "pho," and the Trung Nguyen coffee chain.
Many consumers avoided chicken during the winter after an outbreak of bird flu but consumption has recovered in recent months because Vietnam has not had a human case of the deadly H5N1 virus since November and none in poultry since December.
In addition, about half of Vietnam's 64 provinces have reported a re-emergence of foot-and-mouth disease in cattle and pigs in the past month.
Since avian flu re-emerged in Southeast Asia in late 2003, Vietnam has been hardest hit with 42 people killed out of 93 cases. Hundreds of millions of poultry were slaughtered.
Reuters - May 19, 2006.
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