KFC Looks for Franchisees

KFC Corp. closed eight Northwest Arkansas restaurants in mid-December after a franchisee in New Mexico filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

But KFC plans to find franchisees and reopen all eight restaurants.

“We will be reopening, but not necessarily in the same location,” said Michelle Mandro, a spokesperson for the Louisville, Ky.-based company.

Mandro said current franchisees are being contacted about taking over some of the eight stores. She said the corporation hopes to have the stores reopened as soon as possible.

“This is a very, very rare situation for us,” she said.

The restaurants, which were operated by Newmark Foods Inc., were in Fayetteville, Springdale, Bentonville, Rogers and Siloam Springs.

Besides the Northwest Arkansas locations, Robert Mott, the franchisee operating as Newmark Foods, also had 11 KFCs in Texas and six in New Mexico.

Franchise rights cost $25,000, and it costs from $900,000 to $1.2 million to build a KFC restaurant.

KFC is owned by Tricon Global Restaurants Inc.