Since 2020, İş Gıda AŞ, who took over the management of the KFC and Pizza Hut brands, made a written statement regarding the unilateral termination of the contracts with “Yum! Brands”. The statement, which also shared a roadmap for the employees, emphasized, “Our priority is to protect the acquired rights of our employees and ensure that the process is completed with the least possible hardship for them.”

Expressing deep sorrow for the challenging process due to the unilateral termination of the contract, the statement announced that the process was conducted transparently. It was mentioned that intensive efforts were made for the process to progress with the least damage possible for all stakeholders. The statement said, “We are determined to manage this process with transparency. Starting in 2020 with 138 KFC restaurants and continued by adding 58 Pizza Hut restaurants in 2022, we expanded our journey to a total of 537 restaurants owned by İş Gıda in 35 cities in less than 4 years. During this process, not only did we increase the number of our restaurants, but we also built a widespread ecosystem from the supply chain to construction and courier operations and provided employment to thousands of people.”

“THEY DECIDED TO ABRUPTLY TERMINATE OUR 4-YEAR COLLABORATION” The statement indicated that the investment costs brought by this rapid growth were constantly covered with own resources, and the earned ones were invested in new KFC and Pizza Hut restaurant openings under the direction of Yum! Brands. It was stated: “As a result, we started to experience financial difficulties in the last quarter of 2024 and had to resort to very high-interest loans. During this period, we started negotiations with Yum! Brands to prevent both our brands and stakeholders from being harmed. The transfer of all operations to them was also among the options in these negotiations. While the process was progressing positively, they abruptly terminated our contract unilaterally on January 8, 2025, deciding to end our 4-year partnership suddenly. As a result, we had to stop the operations of all our KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants throughout Turkey.”

The statement pointed out that this development had significant consequences for employees, business partners, and customers, and reported that necessary steps were taken to minimize the impact of the process and protect the rights of all stakeholders, especially employees. PAYMENTS FOR EMPLOYEES In the company statement, the roadmap for the employees was shared as well. Stating that they were aware of how employees and their families were affected by this process and deeply felt the sadness, the statement emphasized, “Our priority is to protect the earned rights of our employees and ensure that the process is completed with the least possible hardship for them. In this direction, we are carefully managing the process by taking the necessary steps. We are coordinating processes related to wages and labor rights with the authorized institutions to secure the rights of our employees.” It was emphasized that, as a result of regular wage payments made so far, there were no salary claims dating before 2025 on behalf of the employees in the statement. It was stated, “For the first time in our company’s history, the January salaries could not be paid on the regular payment day. In legal terms, during the concordat process, employees can receive the salaries they could not obtain through İŞKUR at the definite extension of the concordat. However, in case the process takes too long, our company plans to prioritize, and intends to pay the January salaries that were supposed to be paid on February 5, in February within the revenue that will be obtained after the handovers of the restaurants until the end of February.”

“WE WILL CONTINUE TO INFORM” The company statement expressed that, in order to eliminate the uncertainties, the public will be informed transparently and regularly.