• Sales at Yum China restaurants decreased by 16 percent from April through June of last year.
• Yum China set a goal to open 1,000 to 1,200 new stores by the end of 2022 earlier this year.
• The corporation has refrained from raising the cost of meals, in contrast to other restaurant chains.

Customers in China have long questioned why KFC doesn’t serve chicken feet, which are a local delicacy.

Now, according to Yum China’s (YUMC) CEO Joey Wat, “I can report back that for this year, for 2022, we are finally serving chicken feet.”

Customers might not have anticipated the change’s cause: increased oil prices.

Wat claimed the inclusion was a part of a larger initiative by the restaurant giant to boost productivity and utilize more of its ingredients, which has seen KFC add items like chicken wing tips to its menu.

Costs for enterprises have dramatically grown as a result of rising food and oil prices.

With a chuckle, Wat stated, “We attempt to accept this commodity price hike, with full usage of the chicken. That entails utilizing every component of the chicken “apart from the feather, I suppose.”

Wat claims that Yum China is now coming out of its most difficult quarter. The KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell businesses are owned by the Shanghai-based Corporation in China, where recent Covid-19 lockdowns affected hundreds of millions of people and kept many indoors for weeks on end.

According to Yum China, sales at locations open for at least a year decreased by 16 percent from April through June of last year.

That might have turned out worse. Despite the fact that “the second quarter was the toughest to date,” according to Wat, the decline in foot traffic was countered by higher demand for delivery, which increased for KFC and Pizza Hut by roughly 8% on a yearly basis.

The business has nevertheless had to adapt. It reduced marketing and promotion during the second quarter, pressed landlords for rent reductions, and urged its restaurants to use their resources.

Despite the challenges, Wat committed not to fire any employees this year.

With the exception of layoffs, she said, “We will look at all the cost-saving alternatives.” “We must take care of 450,000 families and 450,000 employees.”

Wat added that the business was not delaying store openings and that she was determined to maintain a “safety net” for her employees.

Yum China set a goal to open 1,000 to 1,200 new stores by the end of 2022 earlier this year, and the company is still dedicated to that strategy, she added.

The corporation has also refrained from raising the cost of meals, in contrast to other restaurant chains. Instead, it has chosen to turn around and try to attract additional clients by offering them better deals.

For instance, Pizza Hut recently brought back the buffet and launched a promotion that rewards customers for making larger purchases. Under the current conditions, buyers respond favorably to value for money, Wat told analysts on Friday.

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