Yum! Brands’ KFC fried chicken franchise is set to open its first outlet in Gabon in early 2019, nine months after the franchise’s arrival in Côte d’Ivoire. Trendtype also expects Pizza Hut to follow it in within twelve months.
KFC is partnering with Resto Group, the franchise holder for the Paul bakery chain in Gabon. Resto Group plans to open three KFC outlets, initially, all in the capital Libreville. The first will be near the international airport, while outlets #2 and #3 will be in central Libreville and Acaé, south of the city.
Trendtype tracks 1,065 fast food chains across Africa. KFC is the largest chain in Africa, with more than twice the number of outlets as the next largest chain (Famous Brands’ Debonairs Pizza). It is the largest chain in both Southern and North Africa but has a relatively small presence in West Africa and just 10 outlets in the whole of Central Africa. Gabon will be KFC’s twentieth country market in Africa. For comparison, McDonald’s is present in just four countries.
Although there are several independent fried chicken joints in Gabon (such as Cristal Fried Chicken), there are no fried chicken chains. There are fewer than fast food or casual dining chains in the country and the largest restaurant group has just 7 outlets.
Yum! Brands has two main fast food franchises in Africa: KFC and Pizza Hut. Typically, in countries where one operates, the other also enters. We expect this to happen in Gabon, where there is only one pizza chain of note, Dolce Vita, which has three outlets. We also anticipate that Yum! Brands will advise Resto Group to seek partnerships with service station chains – a favoured location for KFC outlets in several countries including South Africa, Kenya and Côte d’Ivoire. Yum! Brands has partnerships with service station owner Vivo Energy, which operates Shell outlets in Africa, in several countries. In December 2o17, Vivo announced its plans to acquire Engen’s service station networks in nine countries, including Gabon.
