The chain grew same-store sales by 5% during the fourth quarter, driven by its Decades menu and value platform
Yum Brands, parent company of Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut, and the Habit Burger & Grill, reported fourth quarter and full-year 2024 results Thursday before market and the headline, once again, is the considerable outperformance of Taco Bell. On the quarter, the chain's domestic system turned in same-store sales growth of 5%, while the full-year was up by 4%.
Full-year system sales were up by 6%, which is notable given that Taco Bell makes up about 37% of Yum’s operating profit. Indeed, Taco Bell generated more than $1 billion in core operating profit for the first time in 2024, as chief executive officer David Gibbs noted during the company’s earnings call. He added that the chain gained dollar share on total industry spend and also increased frequency across all income segments. Driving these results were the successful execution of the Decades platform – featuring some of the chain’s most popular items from the 1960s through the 2000s as well as accompanying merch – and “compelling value” from the $7 Luxe box.
“Taco Bell outperformed, showing that it is a category of one,” Gibbs said.
Internationally, Taco Bell turned in a 3% lift, marking its strongest quarter of the year with growth in markets such as the United Kingdom, Spain, and India.
At Pizza Hut U.S., which was down -2%, the brand remains under pressure from value competition across the quick-service and pizza categories, Gibbs said, but has found some traction from its everyday value offerings, such as the $7 Deal Lover’s Menu.
“To attract light or lapsed consumers, we must lean further into disruptive value promotions. 2025 will be focused on striking the balance between disruptive campaigns and everyday value,” Gibbs said.
Pizza Hut will also continue to enhance its digital presence – including through its redesigned mobile app – to “strengthen its brand position and reinvigorate topline sales,” he added.
KFC U.S. finished in the red again with -5% same-store sales and -5% on the full year. Gibbs said there are “a lot of thoughts on how to strengthen the business,” including modernizing the experience for customers, leaning into digital, and expanding its new tenders-and-sauce focused Saucy spinoff, which has shown “encouraging results” in its early days.
Habit Burger & Grill showed improvement in Q4, with same-store sales flat during the fourth quarter and -4% for the year. Gibbs noted that the company has improved its restaurant-level margins to 10%, or by 150 basis points, by finding operational and labor efficiencies.
Digital sales
Another spark for Yum during the quarter was its digital sales, which now represent more than 50% of the company’s total sales mix. Digital sales grew by 15% in 2024, and that percentage is expected to accelerate this year, driven by the launch of Byte by Yum, a collection of AI-driven products acquired or developed by the company throughout the years and now streamlined into one interface. (Read more about the new Byte by Yum platform here).
Byte will impact each of the four brands across the global system and has already begun yielding results, executives said.
“My experience working in this business is when you’re beholden to third-party (technology) platforms, it’s difficult and creates a lot of friction,” Gibbs said. “We should have the best technology for our franchisee partners and we’re on a mission to bring that to life … We’re just getting started.”
Chief financial officer Chris Turner added that Byte speeds up technology deployment and reduces the impact of the investments made to create such solutions.
“It’s the right thing for us to do to invest ahead to build this ecosystem,” he said. “Taco Bell U.S. is where most of these elements are in place, and it is undeniably adding to the topline and bottom-line success for those franchisees.”
Yum Brands Q4 by the numbers
KFC U.S. same-store sales down -5%
Taco Bell U.S. same-store sales up 5%
Pizza Hut U.S. same-store sales down -2%
Habit Burger & Grill same-store sales were flat
Global system sales grew 8%, excluding foreign currency translation, with KFC at 6%, Taco Bell at 14%, and Pizza Hut at 3%
Digital sales exceeded $9 billion with the digital mix now over 50%
1,804 gross units opened, excluding the 120-unit divestiture related to stores under the Jeno’s Pizza and Telepizza brands
Full-year 2024 by the numbers
KFC U.S. same-store sales down -5%
Taco Bell U.S. same-store sales up 4%
Pizza Hut U.S. same-store sales -3%
Habit Burger & Grill down -4%
Global sales grew by 4%, with KFC at 3%, Taco Bell at 8%, and Pizza Hut at -1%
4,535 gross units opened during the year
Contact Alicia Kelso at [email protected]
