Taco Bell scraps plans for restaurants in Berlin

Taco Bell has scrapped plans to open 10 branches in Berlin, after parent company Yum! Brands distanced itself from German franchisee Ilkem Sahim over accusations of “dubious business practices”.

Taco Bell shelves plan for 10 restaurants in Berlin

Taco Bell has announced that it no longer plans to open restaurants in Berlin in the near future. In May last year, the US company said that it would open 10 restaurants in the capital and a further 100 to 150 branches across the country by 2030. The Berlin restaurants were initially set to open by August 2024, with the open date pushed to summer 2025 before being scrapped.

Opened by Californian businessman Glen Bell in 1962, Taco Bell has shops in seven European countries; the Netherlands, Finland, Spain and Portugal, Cyprus, Romania and the UK. 

At the moment, Taco Bell branches in Germany only operate on US Army bases in Wiesbaden, Spangdahlem and Ramstein.

Why has Taco Bell scrapped plans to open more German branches?

According to SPIEGEL, neither tensions between the US and Europe nor changing consumer habits are behind the decision to pull Taco Bell’s 10 Berlin locations.

The German newspaper reported that Taco Bell’s parent company Yum! Brands had rather “lost trust” in Turkish businessman Ilkem Sahin, who was responsible for running Taco Bell franchises in the federal republic.

Sahin is suspected of “dubious business practices” at his company, Sahin Holdings. Accusations, that the company has denied, include threatening employees, withholding wages, and embezzlement.

In December 2024, German magazine Wirtschafts Woche reported that Yum! Brands had revoked licences for Sahin Holdings to run branches of KFC and Pizza Hut in Germany. In the meantime, Yum! Brands will run KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell branches in Germany directly.