Yum! plans to open 1,000 KFCs and Pizza Huts by 2015 in India

After carving out a comfortable lead in China as the dominant Western fast food chain, Yum! Brands, which owns KFC and Pizza Hut, is aggressively courting customer loyalty in India which is set to become home to to more than 1,000 restaurants by 2015.

The fast food company released its strategy for the booming country this week while announcing the opening of their 40,000th restaurant in the world in Goa.

With a rapidly growing middle class and a potential marketplace of 1.2 billion people, 65 percent of whom are under the age of 35, Yum! is hoping to secure brand loyalty and catch consumers while they're still young.

In two years, the company is expected to make $1 billion in system sales and have more than a thousand KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell outlets across 100 cities.

As a predominantly Hindu country where the cow is considered a sacred animal, the growth potential for brands like KFC and Pizza Hut is huge: India is the sixth largest poultry consumer market in the world.

Currently, KFC is the fastest growing quick-service restaurant brand in India, having tripled in size over the last five years to 296 outlets.

This year, the brand also opened 700 new Yum! branded outlets in China, where Colonel Sanders is more ubiquitous than the Golden Arches.

Meanwhile, Starbucks is also hoping to become a dominant presence in India. This week, the coffee giant celebrated its one-year anniversary there by launching a domestically-grown coffee, India Estates Blend.

Since opening its first store last October, the coffee chain has grown to 25 outlets in India. - AFP/Relaxnews, October 28, 2013.