Transforming Fast Food Giant Yum! Canada

If there’s one country Yum!, owner of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, has its sights set firmly on, it’s Canada, where demand for fast food amongst millennials is soaring. To help Yum! Canada benefits from this buoyant fast-casual trend, UPGC, the company’s not-for-profit procurement arm, hired A&C Associates’ Andy Skowronski, author of the award-winning The Road to Transformation training programme [link: www.roadtotransformation.co.uk] to revolutionise the way it works. 

Brief:  One of the big 4 Consulting Houses identified opportunities to modernise and optimise the company’s supply chain and procurements operations and improve the company’s marketplace position and bottom line. Joining UPGC as interim General Manager and Chief Supply Chain Officer, Andy’s remit was to review processes, transform and implement new ways of working that would stimulate growth and differentiation, and cost-cut across Canada’s KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell fast food chains.

Approach:  Andy’s approach to transforming Yum! Canada follows A&C’s Road to Transformation [link: www.roadtotransformation.co.uk] training programme, inspired by his 25 years’ FMCG and foodservice experience and previous work for Yum! Adopting a strategic rather than tactical approach, Andy worked with UPGC’s steering committee to develop and implement an effective strategy focused on optimising rather than just cutting expenses. Changes included implementing a simple and effective organisational structure based on brand lines and embedding a culture of ownership – teams were encouraged to write their objectives. Enhanced category management techniques and the adoption of simplified tools and processes were also introduced. Incentivised continuous improvement measures were adopted to motivate employees and sustain growth. The commission also involved a major pioneering project which was a world first for Yum!

Outcome:  Taking a more strategic approach to operations has enabled the company to adopt changes with better longer-term results. To date, over $8 million dollars' worth of savings has been generated, with future technology changes including a new ERP system set to significantly increase efficiency and reduce costs. People capability has also been radically enhanced, ensuring the company can sustain its competitive relevancy and maximise its potential, now and in the future.