Texas Fried Chicken? KFC Moves HQ, But It's Not The Only State-Named Brand To Relocate

Yum! Brands Inc YUM is making headlines for announcing that Kentucky Fried Chicken will soon be based in Texas.

While the company has Kentucky in its name, its not the first brand to be headquartered in a different state.

What Happened: Kentucky Fried Chicken, which was founded by Harland Sanders (aka Colonel Sanders) in the 1930s, will soon call Texas home. It joins several other companies moving their headquarters to the southern state.

Yum Brands announced the move in February. The company will have two brand headquarters in the U.S., one located in Plano, Texas, and the other in Irvine, California.

Kentucky Fried Chicken U.S. and Pizza Hut global headquarters will be located in Plano, Texas. KFC US is currently headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky. KFC US corporate office employees in Kentucky and remote workers are being asked to move to Texas.

Taco Bell and Habit Burger & Grill will be headquartered in Irvine, California. The KFC Foundation and Yum Brands corporate offices will remain in Louisville, Kentucky as part of the transition.

"These changes position us for sustainable growth and will help us better serve our customers, employees, franchisees and shareholders," Yum Brands CEO David Gibbs said. "Ultimately, bringing more of our people together on a consistent basis will maximize our unrivaled culture and talent as a competitive advantage. I'm confident this is another important step in growing our iconic restaurant brands globally."

Yum Brands has over 61,000 restaurants around the world in more than 155 countries with its various brands. The company has over 30,000 KFC locations in 150 countries, including 4,149 locations in the United States.

The restaurant brand has 114 locations in Kentucky, which ranks 11^th of the states. With 324 locations, Texas ranks second for KFC trailing only California (438).

Sanders ran service stations in Nicholasville and Corbin, Kentucky and served his fried chicken to travelers using his secret recipe of 11 herbs and spices. The Corbin location is the company's original and in 1952 the first KFC franchise location was opened in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Other Companies With Out-Of-State Headquarters: Kentucky Fried Chicken, which many people know as KFC, won't be the first company with a state in their title to be headquartered elsewhere.

Here are some other companies that have state names in their titles, but aren't headquartered there.

Louisiana-Pacific LPX: Building materials manufacturer was founded in Portland, Oregon and originally a part of Georgia-Pacific. The company is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee today.

Alaska Airlines, a unit of Alaska Air Group ALK: Regional airline company was started as a dominant airline in Alaska and Alaska Air Group was founded in 1985 as the holding company for the brand.

AriZona Beverages: Best known for the AriZona Ice Tea brand and its famous 99-cent pricing in most locations, the company is not headquartered in Arizona. The company was founded in 1992 in New York and remains headquartered there today.

Texas Roadhouse TXRH: Restaurant company was founded in 1993 in Indiana and is now headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.

Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen: Restaurant company was founded in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1972, but is headquartered in Miami, Florida today. The company is owned by Restaurant Brands International QSR.

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