ABOUT US
Restaurant Brands is a corporate franchisee specialising in the management of multi-site food retail chains. Our New Zealand customer service centre and corporate office is located in Penrose, Auckland, with regional customer service centres in Sydney, Honolulu and Los Angeles.
COMPANY PROFILE
Restaurant Brands is listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange under NZX code RBD and on the Australian Securities Exchange under ASX code RBD. As of December 2023, Restaurant Brands operates 378 stores: 111 KFC New Zealand, 72 KFC Australia, 75 KFC California (including 11 multi-brand KFC-Taco Bell stores), 36 Taco Bell Hawaii, 12 Taco Bell Australia, 15 Taco Bell New Zealand, 6 Pizza Hut New Zealand (with another 118 stores operated by independant franchisees), 34 Pizza Hut Hawaii and 17 Carl’s Jr. New Zealand. It employs over 12,000 staff across New Zealand, Australia, California and Hawaii and serves hundreds of thousands of customers worldwide every day.
HISTORY
Restaurant Brands New Zealand Ltd was formed to acquire the New Zealand restaurant and takeaway operations of KFC and Pizza Hut in 1997. The decision to float the company was made by the owners of the time – PepsiCo Inc (now Yum! Restaurants International). The prospectus issued at the time stated that “as a listed company with its own dedicated management, board and financial resources, Restaurant Brands will be closer to the New Zealand market and have the potential to better capture growth opportunities, strengthen its competitive position and improve operating performance”. Since the float of the company, Restaurant Brands has certainly capitalised on this position. Previous to Restaurant Brands' formation, the KFC and Pizza Hut brands were largely supported from Australia with a very small head count in the Auckland head office. When Restaurant Brands was created in 1997, all support operations, including Payroll, Marketing, Finance, Logistics and Property Development, were moved to the central Support Centre in Penrose, Auckland.
The company originally purchased 122 stores: 77 KFC stores, 43 Pizza Hut stores and two joint KFC and Pizza Hut stores. This number has grown significantly every year since. The company has since expanded into overseas markets as well as continuing growth in New Zealand.
The Pizza Hut brand experienced major change in 2000. Home delivery is a high convenience concept, which has grown rapidly and will continue to do so. To capture this opportunity, the brand completely changed Pizza Hut from a dine-in business to a home delivery and takeaway operation. This was achieved by acquiring and rebranding the Eagle Boys chain. The first Eagle Boys store was converted to a Pizza Hut in June 2000 and the last store was converted just 13 weeks later. All Pizza Hut stores are now home delivery carryout (delco) outlets. The Pizza Hut network, with 100 stores now has a store within eight minutes’ drive time of 90% of Kiwi homes.
In 2011 Pizza Hut commenced selling a number of its smaller regional stores to independent franchisees. This process has continued and the Pizza Hut brand now has over 90 stores operating under independent franchisees.
In 2011, Restaurant Brands acquired the New Zealand franchise for Carl's Jr., an exciting new burger brand, entering a new phase of international growth. The brand commenced rolling out stores in late 2012 and now has 18 stores in operation.
In April 2016, Restaurant Brands purchased 42 KFC stores in New South Wales, Australia and has subsequently enlarged its investment by acquisition to 66 stores.
In March 2017, the company purchased 37 Taco Bell and 45 Pizza Hut stores in Hawaii and Guam, further increasing its offshore operations.
On 1 April 2019 Finaccess Capital, S.A. de C.V. through its subsidiary Global Valar S.L. completed a successful takeover for 75% of the Company’s issued capital at $9.45 per share. The company remains listed on the NZX and ASX for 25% of its current shares on issue.
In November 2019 Restaurant Brands opened its first Taco Bell store in New Zealand followed by its first two stores in New South Wales, Australia.
In September 2020 Restaurant Brands purchased 69 KFC stores (including 11 multibrand KFC-Taco Bell stores) in Southern California, continuing its ambitious international growth strategy.
INTERNATIONAL PARTNERS
Restaurant Brands leverages its operating capabilities on the brand strengths of its KFC, Pizza Hut, Carl's Jr. and Taco Bell franchisors: Yum! Restaurants International for KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut and CKE Restaurants, Inc for Carl's Jr.