Having closed its KFC and Pizza Hut branches throughout Turkey, İş Gıda announced that its employees have no receivables before 2025 and that it plans to pay their unpaid January salaries by the end of February. The company also disclosed details regarding the continuity of its operations and salary payments.
İş Gıda, the operator of KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants owned by US-based Yum! Brands in Turkey, had announced that their franchise agreements were terminated on the grounds that they ‘did not meet the standards’. This decision affected 283 KFC and 254 Pizza Hut restaurants.
İş Gıda stated in a statement on January 8 that, contrary to the allegations in question, it met the quality standards and continued its operations without interruption. However, it was revealed shortly after that the company had applied to the court with a request for a composition. The Anatolian 1st Commercial Court of First Instance ruled on January 31 that the company would receive a three-month temporary respite and appointed three composition commissioners.
During this process, branches were closed one by one and it was reported that approximately 7 thousand employees were victimized and were dismissed without being paid their salaries. While it was stated to the administrative employees that it was possible to work from home without coming to the office, it was stated that many employees were considering taking legal action. The workers who could not receive their January salaries held protests in different cities of Turkey, especially in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir.
İş Gıda made a written statement regarding Yum! Brands’ sudden termination of the contract. The company stated in the statement that 537 restaurants were opened in four years and thousands of people were employed, and that they had financial difficulties in the last quarter of 2024, and therefore applied for high-interest loans. Although transferring the operations to Yum! Brands was also among the options in the later days of the process, the company stated that upon the unilateral termination of the contract on January 8, 2025, it was forced to stop the operations of all KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants.
Regarding the salaries of the employees, İş Gıda announced that the January salaries will be paid by the end of February after the restaurant transfers are completed. The company has created a plan to pay January salaries in February in case the composition process takes a long time. It was also stated that, in accordance with Article 18 of the Labor Law, dismissal procedures will be initiated after the termination of the contract and the rights of the employees such as severance pay and notice compensation will be paid legally.
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