Restaurant Brands New Zealand Ltd
Restaurant Brands New Zealand Ltd. is a prominent New Zealand company specializing in the franchising and operation of several well-known international fast-food brands. Founded in 1989, it initially acquired the rights to operate Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) and Pizza Hut in New Zealand, both brands being under the ownership of PepsiCo at the time. Over the years, the company expanded its portfolio to include Starbucks Coffee, Carl's Jr., and Taco Bell, thus catering to diverse consumer preferences within the fast-food sector.
With its headquarters in Penrose, Auckland, Restaurant Brands manages not only its franchises but also provides support services to a small number of independent franchisees. The company has made significant strides in enhancing brand presence across New Zealand, achieving a strategic distribution of franchises that allows most New Zealanders to access its services within an eight-minute drive. As of recent years, it operates nearly 300 stores across various regions, including not only New Zealand but also Australia and the Pacific Islands.
Restaurant Brands is listed on both the New Zealand and Australian Stock Exchanges, indicating its significant economic impact and operational scale. KFC remains the cornerstone of the company's sales and profitability, underscoring its relevance in the competitive fast-food landscape. This corporate franchise continues to evolve, leveraging its international partnerships while adapting to local market needs.
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Subject Terms
Restaurant Brands New Zealand Ltd.
- Date founded: 1989
- Industry: Fast food
- Corporate headquarters: Auckland, New Zealand
- Type: Public
Restaurant Brands New Zealand Limited is a New Zealand restaurant company that owns the New Zealand franchising rights for a number of globally-known foreign restaurant franchises. Having been founded to acquire the New Zealand franchise rights for Kentucky Fried Chicken (now KFC) and Pizza Hut, it has since added Starbucks Coffee and Carl's Jr. to its portfolio, as well as operating a number of Taco Bells in the Pacific region. In addition to managing the franchising rights, it operates most of the New Zealand stores for its brands, while providing support, management, and franchise-related services to the handful of independent franchisees. Though primarily based in New Zealand, its expansions have included Australian and overseas stores. Restaurant Brands is a corporate franchise and specialises in managing multi-site branded food retail chains. Its restaurant support centre and headquarters is located in Penrose in Auckland. Restaurant Brands was listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange in 1997.
History
Restaurant Brands New Zealand was formed in 1989 in order to acquire the franchising rights and restaurant operations of Kentucky Fried Chicken (now KFC) and Pizza Hut in New Zealand. Both are American brands; Kentucky Fried Chicken was founded in 1930 and first franchised in 1952, and Pizza Hut began operations in 1959. At the time of Restaurant Brands' founding, both brands were owned by food and beverage giant PepsiCo; since 1997, PepsiCo's fast food and restaurant holdings have been spun off as Yum! Foods. Restaurant Brands initially purchased 122 stores from PepsiCo and its franchisees. These included seventy-seven KFC stores, forty-three Pizza Huts, and two joint KFC-Pizza Hut stores, a concept common in the PepsiCo/Yum! Brands portfolio.
Shortly after its acquisition by Restaurant Brands, Pizza Hut was rebranded in New Zealand, operating only as a home delivery and takeaway service with no dine-in options. The change reduced overhead and streamlined the franchise operations. In 1998, Restaurant Brands bought the New Zealand franchising rights for Starbucks Coffee, which had not yet opened in the country but was expanding quickly from its Pacific Northwest US origins. The first New Zealand Starbucks was opened in Parnell, Auckland, and the chain soon grew to more than twenty New Zealand stores.
Under PepsiCo's management, the KFC and Pizza Hut brand presence in New Zealand was minimal, and managed primarily from Australian offices with a small office maintained in Auckland. Restaurant Brands centralised support operations in Penrose, Auckland, including marketing, finance, property development, and logistics, and began to focus on developing the brands to better integrate with local needs, such as its conversion of the Pizza Hut brand. Expanding its Pizza Hut franchises was furthered by acquiring the Eagle Boys chain, all stores of which were rebranded as Pizza Hut over a three-month period in 2000. Because New Zealand is fairly small, Restaurant Brands was able to distribute its franchises such that 90 per cent of New Zealanders live within an eight-minute drive of a Pizza Hut. This allows the potential for home delivery for almost the entire country. Some of its smaller stores in more rural parts of the country are operated by independent franchisees.
In 2011, Restaurant Brands added Carl's Jr. to its portfolio of franchises. Having originated in 1941 and operating under the names Carl's Jr. and Hardee's in the United States, the burger chain had begun a push for international expansion in the twenty-first century. The brand was listed fifty-fourth on Entrepreneur's top franchise list due to its rapid growth. Restaurant Brands was able to capitalise on that expansion in order to add a major burger brand to its portfolio.
In 2016, Restaurant Brands expanded its share of KFC franchises to Australia, initially purchasing forty-two stores in New South Wales. The following year it acquired eighty-two Yum! Brands stores (thirty-seven Taco Bells and forty-five Pizza Huts) in Hawaii and Guam when it purchased Pacific Island Restaurants for $105 million. The Taco Bell acquisition drove already extant speculation in the industry that Restaurant Brands was interested in introducing the American fast food taco brand to New Zealand for the first time, either alone or in the form of joint stores.
By 2018, the company did not renew its licensing agreements with Starbucks Coffee International, Inc. and sold all fixed assets and stock in its Starbucks stores to Tahua Capital for NZD$4.4 million.
In 2024, Popeyes, a Louisiana-style fried chicken chain, opened 10 stores in New Zealand, with a $25 million investment. The chain was owned by Restaurant Brands International.
Impact
Restaurant Brands holds the New Zealand franchise rights to some of the best-known global fast-food brands. These brands operate in multiple categories: fried chicken, pizza, coffee and breakfast, and tacos. As of 2023, Restaurant Brands owned and operated 378 stores, including 111 KFCs in New Zealand, 72 KFCs in Australia, 75 KFC California (including 11 combination KFC-Taco Bell stores), 36 Taco Bell Hawaii, 12 Taco Bell Australia, 15 Taco Bell New Zealand, 6 Pizza Hut New Zealand (along with another 118 stores run by independent franchises), 34 Pizza Hut Hawaii, and 17 Carl's Jr. New Zealand. The company has more than 12,000 employees throughout New Zealand, Australia, California, and Hawaii.
The company also has many international partners in which it leverages its operating capabilities on the brand strengths of its KFC, Pizza Hut, Carl's Jr., Taco Bell franchisors. These include Yum! Restaurants International for KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, and CKE Restaurants, Inc. for Carl's Jr. Restaurant Brands is also listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange under NZX code RBD and on the Australian Securities Exchange under ASX code RBD. KFC continues to be the main driver of Restaurant Brands' sales and profits.
Bibliography
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"Restaurant Brands New Zealand Annual Report 2017." Restaurant Brands, www.restaurantbrands.co.nz/news/articles/restaurant-brands%E2%80%99-2017-annual-result/. Accessed 17 Jan. 2018.
"Restaurant Brands New Zealand to Buy Hawaiian Taco Bell, Pizza Hut Franchisee." Reuters, October 25, 2016, www.businessinsider.com/r-brief-restaurant-brands-new-zealand-to-buy-hawaiian-taco-bell-pizza-hut-franchisee-2016-10. Accessed 17 Jan. 2018.
"Restaurant Brands Sales to Exceed $700M." NZ Herald, 23 June 2017, www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c‗id=3&objectid=11881223. Accessed 17 Jan. 2018.
Winter, Chloe. "Taco Bell NZ: Expectations Grow as Restaurant Brands Buys 82 Fast Food Stores in Hawaii." Stuff Business Day, Oct. 26, 2016, www.stuff.co.nz/business/85735484/Taco-Bell-NZ-Expectations-grow-as-Restaurant-Brands-buys-82-fast-food-stores-in-Hawaii. Accessed 17 Jan. 2018.