Yum China is accelerating the expansion of its healthy-meal concept Kpro after the brand crossed the 300-store milestone across China, signalling the company’s growing focus on light meals, nutrition-led dining, and modular restaurant formats.
The company has now raised its ambitions for the concept, targeting nearly 600 Kpro outlets by the end of 2026, a sharp jump from just over 200 stores in 2025. The revised target reflects strong consumer demand for healthier and affordable fast-casual options in major Chinese cities.
Kpro operates primarily alongside KFC restaurants under a “side-by-side” model, allowing Yum China to leverage existing KFC infrastructure, supply chains, memberships, and delivery systems while keeping investment and operational costs lower than standalone restaurant formats.
The menu focuses on balanced and lighter offerings including multigrain energy bowls, whole-wheat sandwiches, roasted chicken, yogurt smoothies, and reduced sugar-and-salt options aimed at health-conscious urban consumers. Yum China said the concept also emphasizes calorie transparency and nutritional positioning as Chinese diners increasingly seek healthier quick-service meals.
Expansion efforts are expected to focus on tier-one and tier-two cities along with select tier-three markets, particularly in eastern and southern China where demand for light-meal formats has been stronger.
The rapid rollout comes amid a broader growth push by Yum China, which reported a record-breaking first quarter of 2026 with 636 net new store openings, taking its total restaurant count to 18,737 locations across China. Around 39 percent of those new stores were opened through franchise partners.
Yum China, which operates brands including KFC, Pizza Hut, Lavazza, Taco Bell, Little Sheep and Huang Ji Huang in China, has increasingly relied on flexible and smaller-format concepts such as Kpro and KCOFFEE to drive future growth and improve store economics.
The concept is also seen as part of Yum China’s long-term strategy to diversify beyond traditional fried chicken and pizza formats while maximizing productivity from existing KFC locations.
