Collaboration, Community, Growth: A look inside KFC’s 2023 Global Operations Summit

Last week in Paris, France, our world-class operators from around the globe joined together to discuss how we’re transforming our operations and evolving our business for dynamic growth. Representing our 15 business units and the more than 150 countries where KFC operates, there was so much passion for the finger lickin’ good chicken we prepare fresh every day and the guests we serve it to.

DAY 1: Driving operational excellence

Operations is at the heart of our business. We kicked off Ops Summit with our global CEO Sabir Sami sharing his thoughts on the role heart-led leaders play when unlocking top-notch performance and driving results. 

Markets including France, India and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia also shared key progress on their journey to transforming operations and delighting customers, bringing best practices to life across their diverse operating environments.

We rounded out the day hearing from the CEO of Collins Foods, Drew O’Malley, on the importance of building and maintaining strong, long-term franchise relationships.

DAY 2: Going all in on Experience Management

Before programming began, female leaders representing all KFC markets and some external partners joined for breakfast to discuss their experiences as women working in the field of operations, a function that’s historically been predominantly led by men. Lucy Taylor, COO for KFC UK&I, and Grace Munsayac, COO for Greater Asia, shared leadership lessons with an authentic Q&A on how to thrive as women in operations.

Day 2 was all about experience management, or XM as we call it. XM includes both the customer experience (CX) and the employee experience (EX). At KFC, we’re on a journey toward improved and more impactful listening to improve our experience and drive growth.

Unlocking this type of data is key to the transformational journey we’re on, so we started the morning talking about what it will take for us to adopt this new way of collecting information and actioning the insights we uncover. Advisory Director Nan Russell from our listening partner Qualtrics shared the keys to success for 360 degrees listening, followed by Clare Black, GM of Sales at Delta Air Lines, shared a case study on how this has been a winning approach for them.

But we can’t talk about XM without also talking about taste – the reason people choose to experience the brand in the first place and the true superpower of KFC. KFC Global CMO Val Kubizniak and Director of Food Innovation Ana Maria Basurto shared about the importance of consistently executing our hand-breaded, freshly prepared chicken just how the Colonel made it every time. To further immerse ourselves in XM, we then headed out across Paris for restaurant visits to see the CX and EX firsthand, including our global CEO and restaurant team members exchanging a fist-bump.

DAY 3: Building capability by building up people

On the final day, we dove into something that truly sets KFC apart from other QSR brands – our heart-led, inclusive and high-performance culture. Sabir sat down with Keith Barr, the CEO of InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) and a non-executive Director of Yum! Brands, who shared how he helped remodel IHG's business by driving performance and leading with heart. Then our Director of Inclusion and Capability Carolina Romero shared how we can drive performance through a focus on self, others and culture.

GM of Heartstyles, Ross Orwin, brought leading self to life through application of our character compass with self-reflection and group sessions. And when it comes to leading others, our Sr. Director of People and Culture Ashley Hostetter shared the keys to high-performance career coaching – starting with clarity of aspirations to courageous kind conversations on how to realize career goals.

Finally, Carolina shared the importance of creating brave and safe places where everyone feels they belong, which is why we’ve launched two global Communities of Belonging – SHINE, which elevates women throughout our KFC family, and Kentucky Fried Pride (KFP) which is dedicated to embracing and empowering the LGBTQ+ community. Siyabulela Ngcukana, Chief Supply Chain Officer for KFC Africa, and Toby Camilleri, COO for KFC Canada, took the stage to share their stories and explain why being their true selves at work, and having allies in the workplace, has unlocked their full potential.

Finally, we closed out Day 3 talking about technology and innovation with the Chief Innovation Officer of Yum! Lawrence Kim and leads from our fabulous equipment partners: The Middleby Corporation, Henny Penny and Winston Food Service.

We wrapped up the event the only way we know how – with an awards ceremony and gala to recognize the outstanding work and impressive results being achieved by our market operations team across the world. 

Until next time, Paris. Santé!