New owner of KFC's Russian assets will complete restaurant chain rebranding in Q1 2024

ST. PETERSBURG. Sept 28 (Interfax) - Smart Service Ltd LLC, the owner of KFC's Russian assets, plans to complete the transition of all restaurants in the chain to the Rostic's brand in Q1 2024, General Director of Unirest LLC (manages the Rostic's and KFC brands in Russia, owned by Smart Service Ltd LLC) Tatyana Shamanskaya told journalists on Thursday.

"Our transformation process began quite recently, only at the end of April; by the end of September we expect that (...) up to 300 restaurants out of 1,150 will be rebranded. (...) I think that by the end of Q1 2024, the entire chain will be operating under the new brand," she said.

In the future, the restaurant chain is considering the possibility of opening smaller format establishments with areas ranging from 100-200 square meters, Smart Service co-owner Konstantin Kotov said. The average restaurant area is currently 300 square meters.

"We see our business doubling in five years," Kotov said.

As reported, the AmRest restaurant holding, which previously managed KFC restaurants in Russia, has closed a deal to sell its business in Russia to Smart Service Ltd.

The transaction amount was 100 million euro.

Initially, AmRest had agreed to sell its restaurants to Almira LLC, but then the holding signed a new agreement with Smart Service.

The Russian company also purchased the Yum! Brands business in Russia. As part of the deal, the parties agreed that Smart Service would rebrand the chain's restaurants, and that KFC would be renamed Rostic's.