KFC has announced plans to create 7,000 new jobs across the UK and Ireland as part of a £1.5bn investment which will include new restaurants.
The fried chicken chain said it would focus on setting up shops in “key locations” such as Ireland and north west England, where it first launched in Britain 60 years ago when it opened a restaurant in Preston.
Consumers in the UK and Ireland spend billions of pounds in fried chicken fast food chains every year.
KFC has set out its five-year growth plan as its rivals expand in Britain and Ireland, including Wingstop and Popeyes, famed for catering singer Beyoncé and rapper Jay-Z’s wedding in 2009.
KFC said that it will plough nearly £500m into 500 new sites as well as upgrading existing shops. It currently has more than 1,000 restaurants across the UK and Ireland, the majority of which are operated by franchisees.
It said the 7,000 new jobs it expects to create in the UK and Ireland will include servers, kitchen-based roles and managers.
KFC added that it will invest in its supply chain to “strengthen long-standing relationships” such as with Pilgrim’s Europe, which is based in Warwick, and McCormick in Buckinghamshire which makes the fast-food firm’s gravy.
KFC is by far the largest fried chicken chain in Britain. But in recent years, smaller competitors have been growing including America’s Wingstop which, in December last year, sold its UK arm to US private equity firm Sixth Street for £400m.
Wingstop currently has around 57 franchised sites in the UK and plans to open another 20.
Meanwhile, Popeyes UK has 65 restaurants across the UK and Ireland after a big expansion last year when it opened 33 shops.
According to market research firm Kantar, Britons spent about £2.8bn on fried chicken from fast food shops in the year to 20 April.
Dave’s Hot Chicken – the US brand which counts rapper Drake and actor Samuel L Jackson among its backers – opened its first restaurant in the UK last year, located in London, and plans to launch a further 60 shops in the UK and Ireland.
