Analyst: Yum's Yan Can threatens Chang's chain

Nation's Restaurant News, July 22, 2002

SAN FRANCISCO -- A securities analyst affirmed his "reduce" rating for P.F. Chang's China Bistro based on perceived stiff competition for its casual offshoot posed by the new Yum! Brands Inc.-backed Asian concept, Yan Can, which debuted near here last month.

A July 15 report by Eric Wold, an analyst with RTX Securities in San Francisco, said, "We continue to believe that this newest [Yan Can] entrant into the fast-casual Asian restaurant niche has the strong potential to pose some problems for P.F. Chang's newer restaurant concept, Pei Wei Asian Diner, as both of these restaurant concepts set out to tackle the same market opportunity."

Pei Wei now has seven units in the Phoenix and Dallas markets. Wold said Yum, parent of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, plans to open four more Yan Can units by year-end, in the Bay Area cities of El Cerrito and Milpitas. The prototype unit, developed with famed television chef Martin Yan, is in suburban Pleasant Hill, about 25 miles east of San Francisco.

P.F. Chang's could not be reached for comment at presstime.