April 17, 2023 – Yum! Brands has completed its exit from the Russian market by selling its KFC business in Russia to Smart Service Ltd., a local operator led by Konstantin Yurievich Kotov and Audrey Eduardovich Oskolkov.
The sale to Smart Service, which was announced in October 2022 and received all necessary approvals from the U.S. and Russian governments, includes all Russian KFC restaurants, operating system, master franchise rights and the trademark for the Rostik's brand.
As part of the sale and purchase agreement, Smart Service has agreed to retain the Company’s employees in Russia and to lead the process to rebrand KFC restaurants in Russia to Rostik’s. Smart Service will initially convert their more than 100 KFC restaurants in Russia to Rostik’s. As master franchisor, Smart Service will also be responsible for working with other franchisees in Russia to rebrand to Rostik’s, a process which would occur over time.
Closing of the transaction follows a series of regulatory and governmental approvals. With the completion of this latest transaction, Yum! Brands and KFC have ceased their corporate presence in Russia. Yum! Brands previously announced that it had completed the transfer of ownership of all Pizza Hut franchise assets in Russia to a local operator who initiated the process of re-branding locations to a non-Yum! concept.
