Yum China Holdings, Inc., a licensee of Yum! Brands in China, announced on 19th April the appointment of 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, who is currently the company’s Chief Development Officer, will succeed Johnson Huang as General Manager, KFC. These appointments will be effective 1st May, 2022.
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Johnson Huang, who currently serves as General Manager, KFC, joined the company in 2006 and has held a variety of leadership roles. In his new capacity, he 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.
Warton Wang, currently the company’s Chief Development Officer, will become General Manager, KFC. He first joined KFC in 1998 as an operations management trainee and held various operations roles within KFC, including as Market Manager of Hangzhou KFC, the largest regional market of the KFC brand. He became the Regional Vice President, KFC Field Operations in 2015. In 2020, Warton Wang was appointed as the company’s Chief Development Officer.
“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 organisation, 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,” said Joey Wat, Yum China’s Chief Executive Officer.
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Yum China Holdings, Inc. is a licensee of Yum! Brands in mainland China. It has exclusive rights in mainland China to KFC, Pizza Hut, 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.