Yum! Brands Realigns Business Divisions to Propel Global Growth

Yum! Brands, parent of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, is reorganizing its business into separate reporting divisions by brand, with China and India remaining as individual divisions.

On Jan. 1, 2014, Yum!’s three major restaurant brands will combine their U.S. systems with the former Yum Restaurants Int’l. division (YRI) and have individual global business units for KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell across more than 100 countries. Yum! will continue to operate its systems in China and India separately, “given their strategic importance and enormous growth potential.” Yum! has more than 40,000 restaurants in more than 130 countries and territories.

“We believe that having 100% focused brand teams will enable us to more aggressively accelerate growth,” David Novak, chairman/CEO, Yum! Brands, said in a statement. “We also believe knowhow sharing will be more powerful by bringing the U.S. and international businesses together.”

Novak pointed out that over the last few years, the Louisville, Ky., company has been separating its YRI field business units by brand, making it only logical to organize division leadership and resources by brand as well.

The new leadership structure reporting to Novak includes: Sam Su, Yum! Brands vice chairman and chairman/CEO of Yum! Restaurants China; Micky Pant, CEO of KFC; Scott Bergren, CEO of Pizza Hut; Greg Creed, CEO of Taco Bell; and Niren Chaudhary, president of Yum! Restaurants India.

Rick Carucci, who played a major role in developing the new organizational strategy and resulting structure, will retire as president of Yum! Brands in March 2014.