U.S. fast food giant Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) has returned to Zimbabwe after pulling out for seven years due to an economic meltdown experienced in the country.
Without any fanfare, the food giant opened its only store at an upmarket shopping center in the north of the capital Harare this week. Reports have said the franchise, KFC Zimbabwe, operated by a South Africa-based Zimbabwean and a local investment fund, plans to open 25 more outlets.
KFC closed its Harare store in 2007 amid hyper-inflation, which in a year later forced the authorities to abandon local currency the Zimbabwean dollar for the American greenback.
The fast food chain's return to Zimbabwe had been on the cards for the past year with reports at one time suggesting that its return was being delayed by disagreements with government over the KFC Zimbabwe's intention to import chickens from neighboring South Africa.
Reports say the issue had now been resolved as the company will now source its chickens from a local poultry company.
KFC is the world's second largest restaurant chain in terms of sales after MacDonald's, with 18,875 outlets in 118 countries and territories as of December 2013. The company is a subsidiary of Yum Brands, a restaurant company that also owns the Pizza Hut and Taco Bell chains.
The return of KFC is expected to bring stiff competition for existing outlets in Zimbabwe led by local fast food chain Innscor's Chicken Inn, Pizza Inn, and Creamy Inn and the South Africa's fast food chain Nando's.
