Yum China creates new senior roles to better serve customers

Yum China has made senior management appointments to better serve customer needs and spearhead cross-functional initiatives, including one newly-created position.

In a statement, Yum China said it had appointed current KFC general manager Johnson Huang (pictured) as its first chief customer officer, adding that the creation of this leadership position is part of the company's strategic initiatives to integrate customer centricity into its brand-driven culture. In his new position, Huang will focus on building capabilities to better understand and serve customer needs as well as spearhead cross-functional initiatives, such as cross-brand customer loyalty programmes. He will also oversee the company's emerging brands, including Lavazza, COFFii & JOY and Taco Bell.

Huang joined the company in 2006 and has held a variety of leadership roles. Yum China said under Huang's leadership, KFC grew significantly and had been recognised as an innovative quick-service restaurant brand in many dimensions.

"Digital is a core growth enabler of Yum China to unlock tremendous opportunities. Huang's new leadership role will enable us to continuously strengthen our digital capabilities and elevate the customer experience. With his strong technology background and deep understanding of the organisation, Huang is most suited for this new role," said Joey Wat, CEO of Yum China.

In addition to Huang's appointment, Yum China has elevated chief development officer Warton Wang to succeed Huang. Wang boasts 24 years of experience with deep operations expertise. He joined KFC in 1998 as an operations management trainee. He held various operations roles within KFC, including market manager of Hangzhou KFC. He also became regional vice president, KFC field operations in 2015, and in that position, he led various initiatives to improve KFC's business operations and enhance restaurant efficiency. In 2020, Wang was appointed as the company's chief development officer. He was instrumental in the innovation of the company's multiple store formats and growth strategy.

"In his previous capacity, Wang demonstrated strong leadership, strategic thinking and the ability to turn opportunities into tangible results. He has led the innovation of store formats that accelerated store network expansion and improved new store payback. I am confident that Wang will bring the brand to the next level of success," Wat added.

Both promotions will be effective on 1 May 2022. Huang and Wang will continue to report to Wat too.

In early April, Yum China's predecessor Yum! Brands filed for NFT trademarks for KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. According to the US Patent and Trademark Office, trademarks have been filed for those three brands for virtual F&B products as well as downloadable multimedia files containing artwork, text, audio and video relating to restaurants, foods and beverages. It also covers downloadable virtual goods such as NFTs, digital tokens; downloadable loyalty cards; and downloadable video game software featuring NFTs and other virtual goods.

Additionally, the trademark includes operating a virtual restaurant featuring actual and virtual goods as well as home delivery. The trademarks for KFC included the bucket logo with an image of Colonel Sanders and the terms "KFC" and "Kentucky Fried Chicken". Pizza Hut's trademark covers the brand's logo as well as the name. Meanwhile, Taco Bell's trademark covers the brand name. Yum! Brands joined a list of other brands that have filed trademarks in the NFT space, from Nike, Dunkin' and Burger King to Playboy, FENTY, and McDonald's.

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