Customers leave a Taco Bell and Pizza Hut restaurant during lunch in Los Angeles, California.
Kevork Djansezian | Getty images
Are you looking for the next CEO of your restaurant chain? Try to extract the rows at Yum brands.
The restaurant conglomerate, which has Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell and said quarterly results on Tuesday, provided rival restaurants with CEOs for decades. Between its overall recognized channels, its massive international imprint and its corporate culture, Yum has quietly become an incubator for future industry leaders.
“They focus so strongly on the development of leadership, and in the past two decades, they have had very, very strong CEOs who have led many” people “or” culture first, “said Sarah Lockyer, director of the Elliot group, a management company.
Yum status as CEO training ground can go back to its days as part of Pepsicowhich is also known for its development of talents. The food and drinking giant has possessed KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell before turning the business as World Restaurants Tricon in 1997. Five years later, the company was renamed Yum.
“Our commitment to culture and unrivaled talents allow our managers to stimulate the impact in our global activities,” a spokesperson for Yum said in a press release at CNBC. “As the largest catering company in the world, we are proud that many industry leaders have roots at Yum!, And our strength is the way we continue to grow and raise exceptional talents within our own organization.”
Lockyer underlined the CEOs of Yum like David Novak and Greg Creed, who, according to her, have given other business leaders the possibility of shining and opportunities to strengthen their confidence and their curriculum vitae.
Take Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol. After starting his career to Procter & GambleHe joined Yum at the end of 2005, when Novak directed the company. Niccol had a passage as director of marketing of Pizza Hut before spending Taco Bell, where he presented the slogan mas live from the chain and Doritos Loco Tacos.
When Creed went from the CEO of Taco Bell to the Director General of Yum, Niccol resumed his vacant role at the head of the Mexican inspiration chain. Niccol left in 2018 to direct a turnaround at ChipotleWhere he stayed more than six years before Starbucks attracted him to another repair work.
While the coffee giant always brings in comparable stores of sales at stores, Niccol said at the company’s results conference last week that the return was ahead of the calendar.
Brian Niccol, CEO entering Starbucks.
Anjali Sunday | CNBC
Kevin Hochman, who currently leads International Brinker. He joined Yum in 2014 as KFC Marketing Director and finally increased to lead American companies in the fried chicken chain and Hut pizza. He left Yum in 2022 to revive Brinker, who owns the little Italy of Chile and Maggiano.
Under the direction of Hochman, Chili’s has become the rare restaurant chain signaling the growth of double store sales for several quarters. Avenue advertising and the triple Dipper Aptizer viral offer helped the formerly sleeping chain to become a restoration destination. Since Hochman took the reins of Brinker, the stock has more than fivefold.
Like Niccol, Hochman also began his career at P&G, which has also been known for a long time for his training in corporate leadership.
For some alumni of Yum, the internal competition for the first job means that they must leave to take the next step in their career. With three chains of world restaurants under the wider Yum umbrella, the top race can be rigid.
“These companies have so many efficient talents because they are so big, there are so many divisions, but there can only be one CEO of Yum Brands,” said Lockyer.
This is also true for its brands, which can have marketing, operations, national and international executives in competition for first place.
Julie Felss Masino joined Yum as president of Taco Bell North America in 2018, after roles in Starbucks, Sprinkle Cupcakes and Matel. Two years later, she became chief of growing international affairs of Taco Bell. Although she was positioned as a potential candidate to direct Taco Bell as CEO, she left the channel in June 2023, the same month as CEO of then Taco Bell announced his intention to retire and Yum hit Sean very to succeed him. Two months later, Cracker Barrel announced that Masino was his last CEO.
More recently, DAVE & BUSTER Tapped Tarun Lal last month to lead the company after a search of several months which started even before its predecessor left in December. The restaurant and arcade chain has seen its sales slip in recent months while low -income consumers spend less to eat outside. LAL has previously been president of KFC US, who has had his own difficulties in winning dinners in recent months.
The outside of a Dave & Buster restaurant is seen on June 10, 2025 in Austin, Texas.
Brandon Bell | Getty images
When Dave & Buster announced LAL as a choice, BMO Capital Markets analyst Andrew Struzik wrote in a note to customers that he was “surprised” that the channel was going for a restaurant operator for a veteran of the fun industry. But LAL Curriculum Vitae – including more than two decades of experience in Yum international affairs – has probably won over the board of directors.
“Given the execution problems that the Board of Directors mentioned with the previous CEO, it was probably looking for more operations.
Veterans are not only found in the catering industry. Harley-Davidson Monday, Artie Starrs announced the latest CEO of the Motorcycle Company.
Starrs leaves his role as managing director of the “Eatertainment” Topgolf channel to take the new job. Before Topgolf, he was a global CEO of Hut pizza.
Yum also undergoes its own CEO transition. In October, the financial director Chris Turner will take the reins of David Gibbs, who plans to retire after 37 years with the company. The transfer could mean greater reshuffle in advance for the executive ranks of Yum if other senior executives such as the head of the Tracy Skeans operation, for example, decide to seek their next movements outside.