• by Teresa Buyikian , August 2, 2023

Placer.ai, which specializes in location analytics and foot traffic data, recently released a new foot traffic report on Yum Brands, the parent company of KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and The Habit Burger Grill.

Yum Brands’ QSRs for Q1 and Q2 collectively have seen increased traffic year-over-year, except for a decrease for Taco Bell in Q2. The reason for the decline may have been an adjustment to higher-than-average numbers in May 2022, when Taco Bell brought back the fan favorite Mexican Pizza. Year over year weekly visits to Taco Bell from the middle of May 2023 provides evidence of the difficult comparison to the previous year, but by the week of June 12, Taco Bell had returned to a pattern of year-over-year visit growth.

QSR items that have had a large viral social presence -- such as the aforementioned Taco Bell Mexican Pizza – are bringing more customers in-store, according to the report.  Also as food budgets and belts tighten, cost-conscious Americans have opted for less expensive ways to get more bang for their buck when it comes to dining out, and QSRs are filling the need.

Yet with the most recent fast casual acquisition, The Habit Burger Grill, Yum has expanded  its reach to more affluent diners in the rapidly growing casual dining category. Trade Area Analysis of Yum! Brands’ venues in H1 of 2023 revealed that the median household incomes (HHI) in the captured markets of KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell were below the nationwide average. The median HHI in The Habit’s market, however, was 27% higher than the nationwide average and included larger households, with a greater share of visitors from three- (16.8%), four- (15.6%) and five-or-more person households (15.5%) than the other three chains.