Yum Brands to relaunch Taco Bell restaurant chain in UK

US restaurant group Yum Brands, owner of KFC and Pizza Hut, is to relaunch its Mexican chain Taco Bell in the UK next month.

 

The company, which will open its first Taco Bell outlet at the Lakeside Shopping Centre in Essex at the end of June, said there was a gap in the UK market for a fast food concept that wasn't burger-led.

 

Yum will use a franchise model and target the value end of the market, with menu items priced between 79p and £3.

 

The group first tried to establish Taco Bell in the UK in the late 1980s when it had three sites in London and one in Birmingham. However, the restaurants were closed by the mid-1990s.

 

Nick Dawson, the general manager for Taco Bell UK and Europe, said the launch of Taco Bell, which is Yum's most profitable business in the US, marked the start of a long existence in the UK.

 

"There is a gap in the quick service market for a fresh concept like ours, and I am confident that our wide range of exciting new menu items at unbeatable prices will prove very popular over here," he said.

 

Yum recorded $10.8b (£7.4b) in turnover last year and is driving its international expansion. It opened its first Taco Bell in India earlier this year, and it plans to have 1,000 restaurants in the country by 2015.

 

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By Kerstin Kühn

 

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