Yum China CEO reveals the biggest challenge she's worried about in 2020 — and how she plans to tackle it

0 0 Friday, January 24, 2020 Edit this post

kfc china

The CEO of YUM China says keeping up with the latest industry trends is a major challenge to her business.
YUM is China's largest restaurant company that includes chains like KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell.
The company is constantly looking for ways to innovate, from introducing new food items to refining its delivery program.
CEO Joey Wat spoke with Business Insider at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, about how pushing her employees to stay on their toes and keep innovating is essential for success.
Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

DAVOS, Switzerland — Even the largest restaurant company in China has to try new things.

YUM China, which has exclusive rights to fast-food restaurants in China including KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell, is constantly innovating at all levels of company, thanks to its CEO's constant drive to stay on top of the latest industry trends.

"So I always look for what is next, what is next?" said YUM China CEO Joey Wat. "And that is where the tiger mom comes out."

YUM China, which became independent from the US YUM company in 2016, employs close to 460,000 people and has stores in about 1,300 out of nearly 2,000 cities in China. Wat spoke to Business Insider at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, about how she confronts the challenge of not falling behind an industry trend by constantly adapting to changing tastes.

"I'm constantly thinking, in what function can we improve more?" Wat said. "How can we do things slightly differently so that we can make the company a more robust business model? So that I do push myself and push my team."

Evidence of that innovation can be seen at multiple levels of Wat's business. In terms of food innovation, KFC — the largest restaurant in the group's portfolio — launches about 60 new products a year.

"My food innovation [team] calls me harsh when it comes to food quality," Wat said. "You can imagine why, because not only did I work in a Chinese restaurant and learn how to cook Chinese food, I also, between McKinsey and my retailer job, I spent time to learn to study and learn how to cook western food, from cooking school. And I love food."

Yum's delivery program, which is done entirely in-house without a delivery partner, is also a source of growth for the company.

"The growth of delivery in China has been phenomenal in the last few years, and it will continue to grow," Wat told Business Insider.

Though the drive to innovate is what keeps Wat awake at night, the CEO knows that her mindset needs to have a trickle-down effect on her thousands of employees.

"You want them to have the muscle to think out of the box," Wat said of her workers. "When one way doesn't work, think about the alternative, and that's innovation. It's not a slogan, it's a way of life."