Employee Spotlight: Luiz Perl

1. What is your role at KFC?

I’m the Chief Marketing Officer for KFC in Latin America & the Caribbean (LA&C). This is a fascinating, large and diverse region for the brand, with a presence of over 1,400 restaurants across 40 countries. We are an 100% franchised business unit, made up of over 80 franchise partners who are all passionate about our brand, our food and our people and make sure we provide memorable experiences to our customers around the region every day. My role, together with my amazing team, is to drive the regional Marketing strategy ensuring that we remain a Relevant, Easy and Distinctive brand across everything we do. We work closely with our franchise partners on a daily basis to execute the strategy on a local level, with the ultimate goal of driving sales, transactions and brand love (making the Colonel proud ☺).

2. What initially drew you to KFC and how has your career grown since joining the company?

It’s hard to believe, but I am quickly approaching my 15-year anniversary with the company and the brand! My adventure began back in November 2006 in KFC UK & Ireland where I joined as a Senior Brand Manager. From there, in 2009 I moved to a regional Marketing role looking after the brand across KFC markets in Central & Eastern Europe, based in Paris. Finally, in late 2013 I was given the amazing opportunity to move to sunny South Florida and join KFC LA&C, which is where I have been ever since, taking on a number of roles and responsibilities over the years and eventually becoming CMO in 2017. What drew me to KFC (and still keeps me here 15 years later) are essentially 3 things: the strength of the KFC brand around the world (a Marketer’s dream), the delicious taste of our food (my family and I had been loyal customers WAY before I joined the company) and perhaps most importantly, Yum!’s unique corporate culture, which is very aligned with my personal values and allows me to have a healthy balance of achieving professional growth whilst always being true to myself.

3. What has been your favorite project to work on at KFC?

There have been so many over these 15 years! I suppose what has excited me the most during these years has been the opportunity to bring our brand and our delicious food to new markets for the first time. During my time in Paris, I was fortunate enough to be part of the team that introduced KFC to Italy and the West Bank; both markets with incredible potential and a huge appetite for our delicious chicken. From looking for the right franchise partner, to defining the menu architecture, pricing and brand positioning it was an amazing opportunity to “start from scratch” and see where the future took us. Many years later it is great to see how both markets have gone from strength to strength, with 13 stores in the West Bank and almost 50 in Italy, and many more to come! More recently, in my current role it has been immensely gratifying to be able to help KFC Brazil (my home country) to take the next step in its growth journey, working towards rapid expansion, increased brand awareness and meaningful customer love.

4. What is your favorite KFC product?

Without a doubt, Hot & Spicy Crispy Strips. I first came across this extravaganza of deliciousness in KFC Poland and fell in love at first bite. Since then, it has become my go-to product in any market that serves them (luckily for me that includes several markets in the Caribbean which I get a chance to visit relatively frequently.)

5. Tell us a fun fact about yourself

I suppose I am what you call a “Citizen of the World.” Because of my father’s job, my family and I left Brazil when I was seven years old and we have never gone back! This has meant that over the years I have had a chance to travel to over 70 countries, live in eight of them and learn five different languages. Despite the upsides, being a “nomad” also has its challenges but I wouldn’t change it for the world; so much so that now that I have kids and a family of my own, it seems that they all have contracted the “travel-bug” too!