Pizza Hut firm warms to hot pot

magicboy

Pizza Hut firm warms to hot pot US fast-food firm Yum Brands has taken a 20% stake in Chinese hot pot chain operator Little Sheep. Yum, which runs Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell, is buying the stake from UK private equity group 3i and others.
Little Sheep, which specialises in Mongolian mutton hot pot, has 375 outlets across China.
Yum's existing chains have a strong presence in China and the firm is betting that Chinese appetite for fast food will weather the downturn.
The fast-food industry has fared relatively well worldwide as consumers shun more expensive restaurants and China's economy is likely to be less hard hit than elsewhere.
"Yum knows China's food markets very well and it certainly wants to expand in different areas to diversify its profit streams," said Guo Changsheng, an analyst at Shanghai Securities.
Little Sheep, which listed in Hong Kong last year, has a small presence overseas in places such as Vancouver that have large Asia populations.
Yum paid $2.40 a share or $63m for the stake.
Hot pot is very popular in China. Thin slices of mutton, vegetables and other ingredients are boiled in a communal pot of seasoned broth at the centre of the table and picked out as they cook.

Yum! introduced pizza to China, will it introduce hot pot to the world?