Business Notes Fast Food

For PepsiCo, it was a finger- lickin' good deal. The secondlargest U.S. soft- drink manufacturer (1985 sales: $8.1 billion) announced last week that it had agreed to acquire Kentucky Fried Chicken, now owned by RJR Nabisco, for about $850 million. If the deal goes through, the purchase of the 6,500 KFC restaurants will give PepsiCo, which already owns Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, some 14,000 fast-food outlets, more than any other chain. McDonald's, with 9,000 stores, is the current leader.

Most Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets now serve Coke rather than Pepsi, but that could change. A PepsiCo official said the company will not break contracts between KFC and Coke but will work "vigorously" to wean its franchisees from the Real Thing.