Yum! Brands Inc, the world's largest fast food chain operator, formally introduced its third pizza brand Pizza Hut Express to the Chinese market when it opened its first store in Shanghai on Thursday.

Different from the Pizza Hut canteens and Pizza Hut Delivery outlets, the Pizza Hut Express, located in the Pacific Department Store in Xuhui district, provides low-priced take-away snacks.

Pizza Hut Express also has outlets in Hangzhou and Shenzhen.

"We've introduced all of our pizza brands to China because of the strong consumer demand and good sales achievements in the market," said Su Jingshi, president of Yum! Brands Inc China Division.

"We'll use our advantage of scale management to cope with the rising costs of raw materials," Su said.

The three pizza brands will be available in more than 100 cities by the end of this year with 500 Pizza Hut canteens, 78 Pizza Hut Delivery stores and a number of Pizza Hut Express stores as that type of store matures, said Su.

Besides Pizza Hut, Yum! also owns KFC, Taco Bell and a local brand, East Dawning. It has already opened 350 Pizza Hut restaurants and 50 Pizza Hut Deliveries, in addition to more than 2,000 KFC outlets in China.

Yum! reported 16.9 billion yuan ($2.36 billion) in revenue in China in 2006 and has been the biggest catering group in China for years.