(EMAILWIRE.COM, January 29, 2001 ) Tricon Global Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE: YUM) today announced that David C. Novak, 48, has become Chairman of the Board, succeeding Andrall E. Pearson, 75, who will continue to serve as a Director of Tricon with the title of Founding Chairman. Mr. Novak has been Chief Executive Officer of the Company since January 2000 and Vice-Chairman since it was spun-off from PepsiCo in October 1997. "Tricon has experienced a cultural, operational and financial transformation since becoming an independent public company," said Mr. Pearson. "David has been my full partner as we have achieved improvements in virtually every yardstick of Company performance. He is an outstanding leader, continuously driving the entire Tricon organization to achieve ever-higher levels of performance. I look forward to my continuing director's role as the Company achieves its outstanding growth potential in the U.S. and abroad." "I firmly believe there is no global restaurant company better positioned for growth than Tricon, and Andy's experience and talent have been instrumental in getting us to this strong position," said Mr. Novak. "With three outstanding brands - Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell - a large base of international restaurants achieving exceptional growth, and excellent opportunities to further drive our international and domestic growth, Tricon is best positioned to build and deliver value for all stakeholders." Since the spin-off, Tricon has grown its system sales by 8%; franchise fees by 38%; restaurant margins by 330 basis points; operating profit by 31%; operating EPS by 108% and its return on capital by 10 points. Tricon has also successfully reduced its percentage of owned restaurants by 14 points, its general and administrative expenses by 8% and company debt by $2.1 billion. Tricon is the world's largest restaurant company in terms of system units, with over 30,000 restaurants around the world in over 100 countries and territories. Tricon's three brands, KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell are the global leaders of the chicken, pizza and Mexican restaurant categories, respectively. Total worldwide system sales were nearly $22 billion in 1999. This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These "forward-looking" statements reflect management's expectations and are based upon currently available data; however, actual results are subject to future events and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those, projected in these statements. Factors that can cause actual results to differ materially include economic and political conditions in the countries and territories where Tricon operates, the impact of such conditions on consumer spending and currency exchange rates, pricing pressures resulting from competitive discounting, new product and concept development by Tricon and other food industry competitors, the success of our refranchising strategy, fluctuations in commodity prices, supplier contracts, business viability of our key distributor and franchise operators, and actuarially determined casualty loss estimates. Further information on factors that could affect Tricon's financial and other results are included in the company's Forms 10-Q and 10-K, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.------------------------ Produced for TriconCONTACT: Amy SherwoodTricon Global Restaurants Inc.502-874-8200------------------------

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