Iş Gıda, the former operator of fast food chains KFC and Pizza Hut in Türkiye, has filed for bankruptcy, a month after U.S.-based Yum! Brands terminated its franchise agreements with the Turkish company.
Yum! Brands, the owner of KFC and Pizza Hut, announced the decision due to the alleged "failure" by Iş Gıda to maintain compliance with the Louisville, Kentucky-based company's "standards."
Iş Gıda has filed for bankruptcy proceedings with a debt of TL 7.7 billion ($214 million), Anadolu Agency (AA) said on Friday. That leaves about 7,000 people without jobs and shuts 537 restaurants across Türkiye, including 283 KFC and 254 Pizza Hut stores.
"Now that it is in the news, I can clearly say that the reality we face today is a debt of billions of Turkish liras, company immovables seized by banks and state institutions, including our factories, and all my savings that I have pledged as collateral," the company's CEO, Ilkem Şahin, said in a statement earlier this week.
Hundreds of workers gathered in front of Iş Gıda's headquarters in Istanbul to protest the decision and demand their rights.
Chris Turner, chief financial and franchising officer of Yum! Brands, last month said they had engaged with Iş Gıda over several months prior to termination "to provide assistance and resolve key issues."
But he said Iş Gıda was "ultimately unable to maintain compliance with our standards and adhere to fundamental provisions of our franchise agreements."
KFC and Pizza Hut are among several Western brands in Türkiye that have been subject to boycott calls over their links to Israel, which has killed more than 47,000 people in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023 and continues violations in the occupied West Bank.
Contrary to the allegations, Iş Gıda argued its operations meet quality standards and said it had increased the total number of restaurants with 300% growth in the first three years by incorporating the KFC brand in 2020 and Pizza Hut brand in 2022.
