FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Matthew Haller, 202-662-0770
Jenna Weisbord, 202-662-0766
mhaller@franchise.org
jweisbord@franchise.org
IFA NAMES YUM! BRANDS, INC. DIVERSITY AWARD WINNER
LAS VEGAS, Feb. 20, 2013–Yum! Brands, Inc., based in Louisville, Ky., receives the International Franchise Association’s premier honor for accomplishments in diversity and inclusion, the IFA Ronald E. Harrison Award, during the association’s Annual Convention.
Yum! Brands, Inc., is the world’s largest restaurant company in terms of system units with more than 38,000 KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell restaurants in over 120 countries and 1.4 million associates. Yum! is ranked #213 on the Fortune 500 list, with revenues of more than $12 billion in 2011. Outside the United States in 2011, the Yum! Brands system opened approximately four new restaurants each day of the year, making it a leader in international retail development.
According to Yum! Brands, diversity is an organizational priority at Yum! Brands. Yum! believes that the more its work force, franchisees and suppliers reflect the global marketplace in which it operates, the more it will be able to satisfy its customers. One of the company’s founding “How We Win Together” principles–Believe in All People–underscores the importance of actively seeking diversity in others, believing everyone has the potential to make a difference, and coaching and supporting every individual to grow to their full capacity.
Yum! Brands’ Chairman and CEO David Novak personally reviews diversity progress throughout the year to identify and accelerate development of next generation talent at every managerial level. More than 50 percent of Yum!’s U.S. workforce are minorities, as well as more than 50 percent of the company’s new hires. Yum! is increasing the representation of African Americans, Hispanics and women among its key talent and growing the pipeline of diversity in its mid-level manager ranks. In addition, all of its brands have leadership initiatives focused on high-potential diverse talent, and all leaders serve as mentors.
Yum!’s strategy for leveraging diversity includes franchising and supplier diversity. Yum! supports minority entrepreneurship through its sponsorship of the National Minority Supplier Development Council, Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, U.S. Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce and is a founding member of IFA’s Diversity Institute. In addition, the company has demonstrated its commitment to diversity by refranchising hundreds of restaurants to minority franchisees over the last few years.
Yum!’s diversity strategy also includes employment, leadership development and community involvement. More than 25 percent of the company’s annual corporate giving goes to support predominantly minority communities. Each year, Yum! partners with its multicultural customers through high-impact programs like: KFC Pride 360°, LULAC and Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA) National Young Professional and Youth and College Programs, creation of the Poder Magazine Hispana Leadership Summit, and a strategic partnership with National Urban League’s Young Professionals, among others. In addition, Yum! is a founding member and supports organizations such as the Women’s Foodservice Forum and the Multicultural Foodservice and Hospitality Alliance to help grow diverse, emerging leaders in the restaurant industry.
The company has been named one of Fortune Magazine’s “Top 50 Employers for Minorities” and “Top 50 Employers for Women,” one of Black Enterprise’s “40 Best Companies for Diversity” for seven consecutive years, one of Hispanic Magazine’s “Corporate 100 Companies Providing Opportunities for Hispanics,” one of Hispanic Enterprise Magazine’s “Top 50 Corporations for Supplier Diversity,” one of Corporate Responsibility Officer magazine’s “100 Best Corporate Citizens” and by Businessweek as one of the “Top 15 Companies for In-Kind Corporate Philanthropy.”
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About the International Franchise Association
The International Franchise Association is the world’s oldest and largest organization representing franchising worldwide. Celebrating over 50 years of excellence, education and advocacy, IFA works through its government relations and public policy, media relations and educational programs to protect, enhance and promote franchising. Through its media awareness campaign highlighting the theme, Franchising: Building Local Businesses, One Opportunity at a Time, IFA promotes the economic impact of the more than 825,000 franchise establishments, which support nearly 18 million jobs and $2.1 trillion of economic output for the U.S. economy. IFA members include franchise companies in over 300 different business format categories, individual franchisees and companies that support the industry in marketing, law and business development.