Fast Food in France

Yum Brands Inc.’s KFC brand is plotting a deeper move into France, hoping that the Colonel’s recipe will strike the taste of a broader swath of French consumers.

This week, KFC launched its first round of national television advertisements in France as it gets set to open its 100th store there, giving it the scale needed for a broad marketing push. KFC plans to have 300 stores in France by 2015, and sees a possible tenfold increase over time.

French consumers have a reputation for being hard to impress, but over recent years they have embraced some foreign fast-food brands. With an eye toward KFC’s odds of success, Javier Espinoza tracks down how other U.S. chains (McDonald's, starbucks and Burger King) have fared when trying to get into France.