Yum China Appoints Huang as Chief Customer Officer & Wang as GM of KFC, Yum China
April 20 - 2022
Coffee Geography Magazine
Yum China Holdings, Inc. named Johnson Huang as its first Chief Customer Officer. The creation of this leadership position is part of the Company's strategic initiatives to integrate customer centricity into the Company's brand-driven culture. Warton Wang, currently the Company's Chief Development Officer, will succeed Mr. Huang as General Manager for KFC, effective on May 1, 2022.
Mr. Huang, who currently serves as General Manager, KFC, joined the Company in 2006 and has held a variety of leadership roles. Under Mr. Huang's leadership, KFC grew significantly and has been recognized as an innovative quick service restaurant brand in many dimensions. Previously, while serving as the Company's Chief Information and Marketing Support Officer, Mr. Huang helped Yum China build an industry-leading IT function and a powerful digital infrastructure. In his new capacity, Mr. Huang will focus on building capabilities to better understand and serve customer needs as well as spearhead cross-functional initiatives, such as cross-brand customer loyalty programs. He will also oversee the Company's emerging brands – Lavazza, COFFii & JOY and Taco Bell, and continue to report to Joey Wat, the Company's Chief Executive Officer.
Joey Wat, CEO of Yum China
Warton Wang, currently the Company's Chief Development Officer, will become the General Manager, KFC. Mr. Wang is a 24-year veteran with deep operations expertise, who first joined KFC in 1998 as an operations management trainee. He held various operations roles within KFC, including as Market Manager of Hangzhou KFC, the largest regional market of the KFC brand. Mr. Wang became the Regional Vice President, KFC Field Operations in 2015, and in that position he led various initiatives to improve KFC's business operations and enhance restaurant efficiency. In 2020, Mr. Wang was appointed as the Company's Chief Development Officer. He was instrumental for the innovation of the Company's multiple store formats and growth strategy. Ms. Wat, CEO of the company commented, "Digital is a core growth enabler of Yum China to unlock tremendous opportunities. Johnson's new leadership role will enable us to continuously strengthen our digital capabilities and elevate the customer experience. With his strong technology background and deep understanding of the organization, Johnson is most suited for this new role. Johnson's proven track record of leading KFC in the past five years gives us confidence that he can transform our emerging brands into future growth engines for Yum China."
She continued, "Warton is a home-grown leader with deep operations experience. He progressed his way up the operations career path into the leadership team. In his previous capacity, he demonstrated strong leadership, strategic thinking and the ability to turn opportunities into tangible results. He has led the innovation of store formats that accelerated store network expansion and improved new store payback. I am confident that Warton will catapult the brand to the next level of success. Warton will also be an inspiration for our young operations talent working on the frontlines." Yum China Holdings, Inc. has exclusive rights in mainland China to KFC, China's leading quick-service restaurant brand, Pizza Hut, the leading casual dining restaurant brand in China, and Taco Bell, a California-based restaurant chain serving innovative Mexican-inspired food. Yum China also owns the Little Sheep, Huang Ji Huang, East Dawning and COFFii & JOY concepts outright. In addition, Yum China has partnered with Lavazza to explore and develop the Lavazza coffee shop concept in China. The Company had 12,163 restaurants in over 1,600 cities at the end of February 2022. In 2021, Yum China ranked # 363 on the Fortune 500 list and was named to TIME100 Most Influential Companies list. The company has also been selected as member of both Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI): World Index and Emerging Market Index. In 2022, the Company was named to the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index and was certified as a Top Employer 2022 in China by the Top Employers Institute, both for the fourth consecutive year.