Olympic Gold medalist Zhang Mengxue makes donation at Yunnan KFC restaurant
SHANGHAI, July 11, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Yum China Holdings, Inc. ("Yum China") (NYSE: YUMC) announced that Yum China restaurants across the country have now opened their doors to promote the 2017 One Yuan Donation program. The campaign, which began on 8 July, will run through 23 July, 2017 in all KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and East Dawning restaurants across the country.
Chinese Olympic Gold medalist, Zhang Mengxue, visits Yunnan KFC to support the One Yuan Donation program
Two of the early visitors to make a personal donation were Chinese Olympic Gold medalist Zhang Mengxue and Joey Wat, President and Chief Operating Officer of Yum China, who together paid a visit to a KFC restaurant in Kunming city, Yunnan Province.
During their time in the restaurant, Ms. Zhang and Ms. Wat greeted customers and encouraged them to donate one yuan to the program. They highlighted that all funds raised will be used to help children living in impoverished areas across China gain access to nutritional meals.
Joey Wat, President and Chief Operating Officer of Yum China, introduces customers to the One Yuan Donation program
"I would like to take this opportunity to thank Zhang Mengxue for once again supporting the One Yuan Donation program," said Ms Wat. "Her personal involvement in the One Yuan Donation program has helped to highlight the importance of the campaign and the positive impact that it has on the lives of school children in impoverished areas in China." As part of her visit to Yunnan Province, Ms. Wat also visited the Wafang Elementary School ("Wafang"), located in Xundian county. Wafang is one of the beneficiary schools of the One Yuan Donation program. Yum China employees first visited it in 2012, following which they made a pledge to return to see how the donations were being put to use.
Accompanied by her son, husband and colleagues, Ms Wat met with students at Wafang, handing out new backpacks to them all and seeing firsthand how a donation of one single yuan can go such a long way.
"Not long after I joined Yum China, I was struck by the scale of the One Yuan Donation program and the commitment to providing healthy, nutritional meals to children living in impoverished regions across China," commented Joey Wat. "My husband and the rest of my family were especially moved by the nutrition and other challenges that children were facing on a daily basis. At my son's birthday, we invited our friends to donate to the One Yuan Donation program and then matched their donations. Together, my family pledged to make a trip to a school to offer our personal support to the students. Wafang Elementary School has been a part of the One Yuan Donation initiative since 2012, and it is incredible to see how the program has changed children's lives for the better."
This year, many senior Yum China representatives joined the efforts to personally promote the One Yuan Donation program, including Johnson Huang, General Manager of KFC; Alice Wang, Senior Vice President of Public Affairs of Yum China; and Steven Li, Senior Vice President of Marketing of KFC.
In addition to providing nutritional meals to students at Wafang Elementary School, Johnson Huang, General Manager of KFC, also donated over 300 books to help establish a reading corner at the school.
Since its inception in 2008, the One Yuan Donation program has received more than 100 million donations and evolved to become one of the largest public donation campaigns in China. So far, the program has raised RMB150 million, provided over 30 million nutritional meals and funded 750 "Love Kitchens", benefiting more than 400,000 children across eight provinces in China.
About Yum China Holdings, Inc.
Yum China Holdings, Inc. is a licensee of Yum! Brands in mainland China. It has exclusive rights in mainland China to KFC, China's leading quick-service restaurant brand, Pizza Hut, the leading casual dining restaurant brand in China, and Taco Bell, which opened its first restaurant in China at the end of 2016. Yum China also owns the Little Sheep and East Dawning concepts outright. Yum China is well positioned for growth thanks to its strong competitive position, integration of its brands into Chinese popular culture and consumers' daily lives, expanding geographic footprint in China and existing operational expertise. It has a strong capital position, no external debt and expects to continue growing its system sales and profit by adding new restaurants and through growing same-store sales. Yum China had more than 7,600 restaurants and more than 420,000 employees in over 1,100 cities at the end of May 2017. A new generation of younger consumers who are digitally sophisticated and brand driven are fueling growth in consumption in China. The ongoing growth of the middle class and urban population in China is expected to create the world's largest market for restaurant brands, with Yum China poised to be the market leader.
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