Yum Brands Expands AI and Automation Across 63,000 Restaurants

By Priya Anand

Yum Brands, the parent company of KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and Habit Burger & Grill, is expanding its use of AI and automation across its 63,000 global restaurants. Jim Dausch, Chief Digital & Technology Officer and President of Byte by Yum!, is spearheading this initiative to enhance customer experience and operational efficiency.

Dausch, who assumed his roles in September 2025, is driving the deployment of Byte by Yum!, a proprietary AI SaaS platform. This platform supports over 28,000 restaurants with AI-driven insights aimed at improving digital capabilities and franchisee success.

The company's partnership with NVIDIA, announced in March 2025, has facilitated the rapid deployment of voice-automated order-taking AI agents and computer vision technologies for drive-thru analytics. These innovations are part of a broader strategy to integrate AI tools across Yum's enterprise, covering approximately 61,000 restaurants.

Yum Brands has also leveraged AI for marketing, producing over 200 million personalized communications in 2025, which were reportedly up to five times more effective than previous campaigns. The AI-backed marketing strategy utilizes a centralized consumer data platform with around 140 million profiles.

Additional AI applications include predictive menu and beverage innovation, drawing from a Global Innovation Database that houses over 7,000 concepts across 35 countries. These efforts have contributed to significant digital sales growth, with KFC reporting a 63% digital sales mix globally.