VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Yum Brands, the parent company of fast-food brand KFC, reported lower-than-expected quarterly sales on Wednesday.

Kentucky Fried Chicken, in partnership with Baidu which is considered China's Google, started creating a tech-infused smart restaurant. Its ordering kiosks, powered with facial recognition technology, scans the face of the customers and examine information like age, gender and mood in order to come up with a meal recommendation.

The Gulf establishment, Adeptio LLC has approached Kuwait's fast-food chain, Americana, for buying out the 66.8% controlling stake held by the Al Kharafi family valued at $1.7 billion. Currently, the investor is conducting the due diligence but the final outcome will be based on the approval of the Americana franchisers.

The supplier's subsidiary units in China was convicted for selling substandard and expired meats to restaurants including McDonald's and KFC. However, the company argued that the verdict was unjust and inconsistent with the evidence presented in court.

Nashville's hot chicken has been the city's iconic dish for a long time, and KFC adopted the recipe as its newest menu. The promotion already began Thursday in the U.S and the menu was also launched worldwide.

The likelihood is growing that Yum Brands Inc (YUM.N) will spin off its China business, J.P. Morgan said in a client note, upgrading the company's shares to "overweight" from "neutral".

Billionaire investor Daniel Loeb said on Friday his hedge fund has taken a new position in Yum! Brands (YUM.N), sending the fast-food restaurant company's stock up nearly 7 percent.

Beijing authorities have fined U.S.-based J.R. Simplot's China processing unit, which supplies frozen french fries to McDonald's Corp, 3.92 million yuan ($632,370) for water pollution, state media and Simplot said.

Yum Brands Inc, owner of KFC and Pizza Hut chains, on Tuesday said business in its biggest market China is recovering from a meat scare at one of its minor suppliers and the division would finish the year strong.

From cut-price apple pies to free iPads, companies in China are transforming Sunday's dreaded consumer rights day into a shopping frenzy, to blunt the impact of being named and shamed in state broadcaster CCTV's annual expose.

KFC, the world's largest chain of fried chicken restaurants, may face pressure from consumer and environmental groups to change how its poultry are raised after McDonald's Corp (MCD.N) said it would switch to chicken raised without human antibiotics.

Japanese automakers are being forced to ship some car parts to U.S. plants by expensive air cargo and tweak production processes as a protracted labor dispute at U.S. West Coast ports shows no signs of letting up.

Denver, Colorado-based online market research firm GutCheck secured $4 million in a funding round led by Icon Venture Partners to test out the potential of different business ideas.

KFC parent company Yum Brands Inc said that the delay in sales recovery in China would take longer than expected, said Reuters.

Yum! Brands increased profit numbers despite backlash in China.