Yum! switches to Coca Cola from rival Pepsi for its KFC, Pizza Hut restaurants in Romania

The local chains of KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants terminated the contract with beverages producer Pepsi and will sell products from rival Coca Cola HBC. KFC, Pizza Hut and PHD brands, part of the Yum! company join McDonald's and Burger King, that already serve Coca Cola products in their restaurants.

Coca Cola's products will be available in the 64 Yum! locations across Romania starting February. “The decision to serve Coca Cola products in the Romanian restaurants fits in a wider process of developing the Yum! brands on the Romanian market,” said Mark Hilton, the new general manager of Yum! Brands in Romania. Hilton thus became the new CEO for the KFC, Pizza Hut and PHD brands in Romania. He runs US Food and American Restaurants, which operates KFC, Pizza Hut, PHD, Paul, Cinnabon and Hard Rock Cafe in Romania (his LinkedIn CV here). According to Romanian media, the business is owned by Romanian businessman Gabriel Popoviciu, who is also the owner of the Baneasa Shopping Center in the northern area of Bucharest. The value of the fast food industry in Romania exceeded EUR 160 million in 2010, according to the financial reports of the main players in the field. The four best known fast food restaurant operators in Romania - McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut and Burger King - together sold over EUR 160 million of fast food products in 2010 in their 126 restaurants in the country, Romania-Insider.com has learned. The industry was also a good job option for more than 5,200 people, who work for the four analyzed companies. The bulk of the sales went to McDonald’s, which also runs the biggest network of fast food restaurants in Romania, with EUR 99.3 million in fast food sales in 2010. It was followed by KFC- the second largest chain of stores, with fast food sales of EUR 37.5 million. Pizza Hut sold almost EUR 22 million of pizza and other fast food products, while Burger King, the latest addition to the Romanian market ( opened in 2008 ), had sales of only EUR 2.6 million. editor@romania-insider.com