Tricon Restaurants International, or TRI, a division of Tricon Global Restaurants, Inc., announced today the opening of its 11,000th restaurant. The new KFC restaurant is located in Gateshead in the United Kingdom. TRI includes the international operations of KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell restaurants in over 100 countries and territories and has system sales of over $7.7 billion.

“Our number one goal is aggressive global expansion,” said TRI president Pete Bassi. “We’ve achieved two years of record-breaking new restaurant openings. KFC UK is one of our strongest, rapidly growing international markets with more than 500 restaurants. KFC UK has achieved more than five years of double-digit compound growth.”

TRI is a significant global retailer, with KFC and Pizza Hut generating over $300 million in profits.

In 2001, TRI opened 1,041 new units in international, on top of a record-breaking 929 new restaurants opened in 2000. TRI says it is targeting another 1,000 new restaurant openings outside the U.S. in 2002.