KFC to create 1,600 jobs in UK and Ireland

Fried-chicken restaurant chain KFC will create 1,600 jobs this year by opening more than 40 restaurants across the UK and Ireland.

The US-owned firm plans to spend £40 million on the expansion drive, while it will also spend another £40 million on a make-over of 160 existing eateries to “create a more modern, welcoming environment for customers”.

This year’s openings will boost its total number of UK and Ireland restaurants to nearly 900.

KFC, which employs around 24,000 people, has added at least 30 new restaurants in the UK each year and said it has seen seven years of same-store sales growth in a row.

The group also revealed it is trialling a click and collect iPhone app.

KFC UK, which is a subsidiary of Pizza Hut parent Yum! Brands, came to Britain in 1965, with the first store opening in Preston, Lancashire.

The brand was founded in America by Colonel Harland Sanders in the 1950s. Source: The Huffington Post