KFC

Summary

Cultural transformation within KFC was achieved by the appointment of a new CEO, David Novak, who absolutely believed that a winning organization was one wholly focused on supporting the interaction between front-line employees and the customer.

Introduction

KFC, the retailer of the famous chicken meals, operates through about 10,000 wholly-owned and franchised restaurants in around 80 countries worldwide. The company accounts for about 55 per cent of restaurant-based chicken sales in the US alone, where its system sales are around $4 billion per year.

KFC is one of four operating divisions of Louisville, Kentucky headquartered Tricon Global Restaurants. The others are Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and Tricon Restaurants International, the latter essentially being the consolidation of the international operations of the first three. Tricon has about 30,000 outlets around the world and a global workforce of around 650,000, making it the world's largest restaurant chain.

Tricon Global Restaurants is itself a new organization, being born in October 1997 when the global conglomerate PepsiCo sold Tricon its three restaurant businesses. And thus far, Tricon is proving itself financially successful. For 1998, the organization reported an operating profit of $768 million. Operating earnings were at $286 million, up 32 per cent on the previous year.

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