A Yum! Brands Inc. Taco Bell is shown in Encinitas, California,U.S., October 3, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Blake

(The Nov. 4 2016 story was refiled to Ccorrect paragraph 1 to say Taco Bell will increase U.S. restaurant count to 8,000 by end of 2022, not 9,000. Company corrects Nov. 4 news release.)

(Reuters) - Taco Bell Corp, a unit of Yum Brands Inc YUM.N, said it would increase the number of restaurants in the United States to 8,000 and create 100,000 jobs by the end of 2022, as part of its push to reach $15 billion in sales.

Taco Bell, which operates about 7,000 restaurants in the United States, generated revenue of about $2 billion in 2015.

The Mexican food chain employs 40,000 people in company-owned stores in the United States.

Taco Bell’s U.S. expansion follows its plans to grow its international store base to 1,000 restaurants by 2022.

The company, which has 300 restaurants in international markets, opened its first outlet in Brazil in September.

The planned hiring and expansion efforts come on the heels of Yum Brands' spinoff of its China operations, the company's top profit generator, into a separate unit called Yum China Inc YUMC.N earlier this week.