Taco Bell is accelerating its growth outside the U.S., opening 25% of its international restaurants in just the last two years.
The Yum Brands (NYSE:YUM) chain announced Tuesday that it opened its 100th restaurant in Spain.
The chain said it’s on track to build 1,000 international units, although it did not share a timeline to reach that goal. At the end of 2020, about 8% of Taco Bell’s 7,427 restaurants were located outside the U.S.
In its home market, Taco Bell has built a strong following of loyal fans, who even get married at its Las Vegas location. Fans include vegetarians, whose vocal disappointment in menu cuts helped bring back its potato options last year.
Still, the chain’s U.S. business took longer than Yum’s other two large brands, KFC and Pizza Hut, to bounce back from the pandemic. The loss of late-night and morning demand hurt Taco Bell sales.
While Yum reports systemwide sales growth by country for Pizza Hut and KFC, the company doesn’t break out those results for Taco Bell. In the fourth quarter, Taco Bell reported same-store sales growth of 8% across all of its locations.
“We are on track to 1,000 stores, and that is within our sights within the very near future,” said Julie Felss Masino, Taco Bell’s international president.
She added that Taco Bell CEO Mark King has set a goal for the chain to see $20 billion in annual revenue, and international growth is an important component to reaching that target.
YUM shares sprinted $1.35, or 1.1%, Tuesday morning to $122.75.