Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) today announced that it is launching a free online fitness program starting January 1, 2009, to help people jumpstart their 2009 New Year’s resolution to exercise more and get in shape.
As part of the company’s overall Health and Wellness “Keep It Balanced” effort, Yum! and its brands are offering consumers around the world a free, month-long trial membership to an online wellness and fitness training tool called eFIT4Me on their websites.
eFIT4Me is an interactive and easy to use complete lifestyle management system that features customized fitness programs, identifies eating patterns, recommends nutritional habits and includes motivational and goal tracking tools that constantly evolve as members update their progress.
Yum! is also partnering with University of Louisville’s men’s basketball Coach Rick Pitino to educate consumers about the importance of fitness in a balanced lifestyle.
Coach Pitino is working with Yum! to help promote physical activity by participating in a public service announcement as well as monthly online exercise tips featured on the company’s Keep It Balanced website, www.keepitbalanced.com.
“We are committed to continue offering ‘Better for You’ menu options, educate consumers about the foods they eat, and promote exercise so they can maintain a balanced lifestyle,” said Jonathan Blum, Yum! Brands chief public affairs officer. “We are proud of our partnership with Coach Rick Pitino and our free online exercise program, and our goal is to help reinforce the importance of physical activity as part of a healthy lifestyle.”
Created by fitness experts, eFIT4Me’s exercise programs span strength-building, flexibility, cardiovascular, weight loss and more.
Starting January 1, consumers that visit Yum! or any of the Company’s five brand websites, can obtain a free, month-long trial membership to eFIT4Me.
The free month-long offer starts as soon as consumers logon to eFIT4Me. After the month-long trial is over, consumers can continue the program with eFIT4Me at a 50 percent discount of $5.99 per month.
Each of Yum’s brands currently offers lower calorie “Better For You” menu options. Taco Bell restaurants offer a Fresco Menu, including nine items with nine grams of fat or less, many of which are lower calorie options. KFC currently offers lower calorie Sandwiches, Snackers, side items, salads and Tender Roast Chicken, and plans to introduce Kentucky Grilled Chicken early next year. Pizza Hut offers a number of lower calorie menu options, including Fit ‘N Delicious lower fat pizzas, and The Natural, a pizza made with all natural ingredients, including a multigrain crust, all natural old world sauce, all natural mozzarella cheese and natural toppings free from artificial colors, flavors or preservatives such as naturally-preserved Italian sausage, pepperoni without added nitrates and nitrites and 100% real beef with no fillers. Long John Silver’s offers a new Freshside Grille menu, which features grilled shrimp, salmon and tilapia, along with mixed vegetables and rice.
As part of a broader Health and Wellness effort across the United States, Yum! announced in October 2008 that its U.S. divisions at each of its brands would become the first national restaurant chains to begin voluntarily placing product calorie information on their respective menu boards in company-owned restaurants nationwide beginning in 2008 and completed by January 1, 2011.
Yum! and its brands continue to provide full nutritional information on its Web sites and in brochures, available upon request, at its restaurant drive-thru windows and in-store ordering counters. In early 2007, both Taco Bell and KFC were pioneers in switching to cooking oils with zero grams trans fat per serving.
