The parent of Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut is looking this year to repeat its 5% location growth of 2024, aided by enhanced artificial intelligence technologies and test restaurants for new concepts aimed at staving off rising competition, particularly in the fried chicken category.

Yum Brands officials told analysts Thursday the company and its franchisees opened more than 4,500 restaurants worldwide during the past year, including 1,800 in the fourth quarter, bringing its global total to more than 60,000 locations. That included 2,900 new KFCs and 512 Pizza Huts, with both chains expanding primarily outside the U.S., executives said during a quarterly earnings conference call.

Taco Bell had 347 openings in the past year, primarily in the U.S., and executives of Louisville, Kentucky-based Yum said that chain represents a big opportunity for domestic and overseas expansion after accounting for 37% of total operating profits in 2024. Taco Bell’s same-store sales rose 5% in the fourth quarter, topping the 1% growth for the company overall.

While it’s expanding rapidly outside the U.S., KFC has been losing business ground in the U.S. to rivals such as Popeye’s, Chick-fil-A and most recently Raising Cane’s. In response, CEO David Gibbs said Yum has opened a test restaurant in Orlando, Florida, for a new boneless wing concept called Saucy by KFC.

It is also testing a Taco Bell concept in San Diego called Live Mas Café, a beverage-focused café featuring specialty drinks like chillers and coffees. “While these are only one-unit pilots today, we plan to expand both test concepts this year to better understand their long-term growth potential and role in our portfolio,” Gibbs told analysts.

The company Thursday also announced a new internal AI-based restaurant technology system called Byte, designed to streamline order tracking and other restaurant operations, though it was not immediately clear how the technology might affect its future development plans.

Struggling fashion retailer Forever 21 is reported to be considering options including a sale of the company and what would be its second bankruptcy filing in five years, after closing several stores over the past few years.

Citing sources familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal said the company is working with restructuring advisor BRG to evaluate responses to ongoing financial challenges. Finding a buyer could help the chain avoid bankruptcy, after it emerged in 2020 from a prior Chapter 11 filing.

The chain’s current ownership group, which includes Authentic Brands and mall operators Simon Property and Brookfield, did not include Forever 21 when it announced last month that several of its retail store brands would merge with JCPenney.

In a statement to media outlets, Forever 21 officials said operators are exploring a range of options. Forever 21 currently operates about 500 stores nationwide but closed about 200 locations as part of its emergence from the prior bankruptcy filing.

The past year has been a challenging one for several retail chains, with store closings announced by companies such as Big Lots, Kohl’s and crafts retailer Joann. 

Initial U.S. claims for unemployment insurance reached 219,000 for the week ended Feb. 1, up 11,000 from the prior week’s revised level, the Labor Department reported. It marked the second straight weekly rise after two weeks of declines, in a climate marked by slowed hiring across several industries.

The four-week moving average for initial claims was 216,750, still on the low end of what has been a range of 200,000 to 250,000 weekly claims during the past year. But those between jobs are taking longer to find new positions, reflected in rising numbers for continued claims for insurance in recent weeks.

“The layoff rate is low, a testament to the tightness of the labor market, and nominal wage growth among job-stayers is still around 4% year-over-year, outstripping inflation,” Ryan Sweet, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, said in a statement Thursday. “But conditions are challenging for those who are unemployed or not in the labor force but want a job.”

Sweet said a recent rise in uncertainty over U.S. trade policy will have a greater impact on hiring than layoffs going forward. Other analysts are watching for the potential effects on claims and jobless rates as planned federal government worker layoffs and buyouts are implemented.