The eight outlets of A&W All-American Restaurants in China have closed after their parent company, U.S.-based Yum! Brands Inc., refused to rescue the local operations, a state-controlled business newspaper reported Monday.

The closings were reported in Business Weekly, a Chinese publication.

A&W, a fast-food operation that specializes in root beer and burgers, opened its first restaurant in China in 1996. All of its outlets were closed last month after it acknowledged owing creditors 5 million yuan (US$605,000), the newspaper said.

All A&W outlets in China were franchised under a contract that expired two years ago, before the U.S. parent company was taken over by Louisville-based Yum, the company's public relations director in China, Wang Qun, told the newspaper.

An A&W spokeswoman said the closures came after problems could not be worked out with the franchise owner.

"We have uniform franchise standards around the globe and worked diligently with the owner for over a year to rectify problems and reinstate the licenses, but unfortunately the issues were not resolved," said Virginia Ferguson, a spokeswoman for A&W Restaurants International.

Yum Brands, formerly Tricon Global Restaurants, also owns KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut restaurants, all of which currently operate outlets in China. KFC's China operation opened its 1,000th outlet last month, and Yum China president J. Samuel Su said he was confident about the continuing growth of both KFC and Pizza Hut in China.

(China Daily February 3, 2004)