The listing of Long John Silver’s, the world’s most popular quick service seafood chain, in the Franchise Registry of U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) boosts Yum! Brands’ (YUM) plan to expedite opening of new franchise restaurants.

Yum! currently owns, operates, and franchises major fast food concepts such as KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Long John Silver’s and A&W All-American Food Restaurants in more than 110 countries.

The current, credit-constrained market has restrained franchise systems from attaining their growth plans. The registration under SBA will allow faster approval of loan for the franchisees.

The Franchise Registry is an online registry of franchise systems whose franchisees enjoy the benefits of a streamlined review process for SBA financing. Loan applications for franchises on the Franchise Registry can be examined and processed more diligently and promptly by SBA and lenders, since the respective franchise agreements do not need to be evaluated in each individual case.

Long John Silver’s, which started operations in 1969, serves traditional recipes for seafood, chicken and shrimp, among other things. Globally, there are 1,100 Long John Silver’s restaurants, besides over 400 more outlets in multi-brand restaurants.
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