2023 Global Chief Development Officer Conference: Our Vision for Growth

Last month, our Development leaders from around the world gathered in Rome to shape the future of KFC’s global growth. Over the course of three days, almost 40 attendees from across our markets spent time collaborating, planning, and crystallizing a bold vision.

The 2023 CDO Conference brought a high level of excitement and energy with opportunities for attendees to build new relationships with their peers from around the world. They shared know-how and best practices, set goals for achieving gender parity within the function, and of course had fun…all while eating way too much delicious Italian food. 

Here are a few key topics and reflections that came out of the conference: 

We are on a journey to build the world’s LARGEST QSR brand 

Our ambition is to be the largest QSR brand in the world by 2030. With 28,000 restaurants currently, this is a bold goal for us and will mean opening a restaurant every 2.8 hours on average! 

We are committed to a more sustainable future

In 2021, together with our parent company Yum! Brands, we announced our target to reduce emissions by 46% by 2030 (compared to a 2019 baseline), as well as our ambition to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. We remain committed to growing sustainably and being good stewards to the environment as we do. KFCs of the future will be designed and built with a more sustainable future in mind and our “Building Green” standards that include energy efficiency, material efficiency, water conservation, waste reduction and improved indoor air quality. 

Technology will help fuel our growth

As we grow, we’ll need to find and develop new technologies and solutions to support our soon-to-be restaurants. We know the right technology, integrations, and digital and mobile solutions will fuel our success by streamlining both the employee and customer experience and making it easier than ever to access our brand. 

The impact of intentionally coming together for opportunities of connection, problem solving, and brand and culture building is priceless. Our global development team left Rome feeling energized and ready to drive KFC’s growth in their respective markets.