Commercialisation and Innovation Lead - LTO
About the job
- At least 6 years of experience in procurement, supply chain, food commercialisation, new product development, innovation, category management or project delivery.
- Experience supporting food, packaging or product launches in quick-service restaurants, foodservice, fast-moving consumer goods, retail or manufacturing environments.
- Strong project management skills, including managing timelines, dependencies, actions and cross-functional decisions.
- Good understanding of supplier briefing, costing, capacity, food safety, quality and launch readiness requirements.
- Ability to balance creativity, speed, cost, operational simplicity and risk.
- Stakeholder management across brand, market, supplier, operations, finance and technical teams.
- Ability to escalate blockers and create clarity in fast-moving, ambiguous innovation projects.
- Act as the supply chain and procurement link across innovation calendars, limited-time-offer plans and brand commercialisation priorities.
- Coordinate Marketing, Food Innovation, Food Safety, Quality Assurance, Operations, Finance, category teams, markets and suppliers to define supply requirements early.
- Launch supplier briefs for ingredients, packaging and product components, ensuring quality, food safety, sustainability, cost and capacity guardrails are clear.
- Run supplier engagement forums to access insights, co-create innovation and challenge suppliers to bring best-in-class execution.
- Build launch readiness plans, risk trackers, decision logs and escalation routes to support reliable market execution.
- Work with category leads to secure sourcing routes, pricing, minimum order quantities, lead times, alternative suppliers and continuity plans for limited-time-offer components.
- Track commercial and operational performance of launches, capturing lessons that improve future speed, cost and reliability.
- Support portfolio prioritisation by making supply-chain complexity, cost and risk visible in decision-making.
- Improve restaurant economics through validated savings, cost avoidance, payback improvement and total-cost optimisation.
- Support reliable execution for KFC and Taco Bell markets through stronger supplier performance, fewer disruptions and clear issue ownership.
- Translate limited-time-offer plans into practical delivery plans for brands, functions, franchisees and suppliers.
- Build a supplier ecosystem that contributes innovation, resilience, quality, food safety, sustainability and competitive advantage.
About the company
Yum! Brands operates a global portfolio of fast-food chains, including KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and The Habit Burger Grill, primarily through franchising in more than 155 countries with about 61,000 restaurants. Its revenue mainly comes from franchise and license fees as well as royalties, plus some company-owned locations. The company differentiates itself by leveraging a large, multi-brand network with a franchise-heavy model that supports rapid international expansion while keeping operating costs down. Its goal is to grow its global footprint, maximize value from its brands, and continuously optimize operations and menus across markets.
Company Size
5,001-10,000
Company Stage
IPO
Headquarters
Louisville, Kentucky
Founded
1997
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- September 1, 2026 Pizza Hut sale removed a chronic underperformer and $2.7 billion distraction.
- Ex-Pizza Hut Q2 2026 system sales rose 7% and core profit 8%.
- Taco Bell recovered from July's cyclospora shock, with sales improving week by week.
What critics are saying
- July 2026 Taco Bell cyclospora lawsuits already target Yum after two Michigan deaths.
- Taco Bell's lettuce supply chain still faces FDA scrutiny and repeat outbreak risk.
- A fresh food-safety crisis would hit royalties, invite class actions, and damage franchisee trust.
What makes Yum! Brands unique
- KFC, Taco Bell, and Habit run a nearly pure-franchise, asset-light global system.
- Taco Bell's digital sales exceeded 60% of mix after Pizza Hut's exit.
- KFC opened 660 restaurants across 55 markets in Q2 2026.
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Benefits
Flexible Work Hours
Professional Development Budget
Mental Health Support
Growth & Insights and Company News
6 month growth
8%1 year growth
8%2 year growth
8%Thrive Tribe Technologies has raised $500,000 through a placement of 500 million new ordinary shares at $0.001 each. The Australian company announced the issuance on 3 September 2026, having received shareholder approval at an extraordinary general meeting in July. The company filed a cleansing notice under section 708A(5)(e) of the Corporations Act 2001, enabling immediate trading of the placement shares. Thrive Tribe Technologies confirmed compliance with disclosure requirements and stated no excluded information exists under the Act. The shares were issued without disclosure under Part 6D.2 of the Corporations Act. An Appendix 2A for share quotation was released to the market on the same day.
Stonegate Capital Partners has initiated coverage on Yum! Brands, focusing on the company's performance following its Pizza Hut operations. Excluding Pizza Hut, Yum!'s second quarter 2026 results showed system sales up 7%, units up 6%, same-store sales up 4%, and core operating profit up 8%. Taco Bell remains the primary US growth driver, though a July food safety issue is expected to pressure third-quarter sales and margins. KFC opened 660 restaurants across 55 markets in the second quarter, with units growing 7%. The Pizza Hut divestiture is expected to yield approximately $2.3 billion in net proceeds. Stonegate notes the company will increasingly concentrate on its higher-growth, predominantly franchised KFC and Taco Bell businesses.
Taco Bell's same-store sales dropped 2% in July-September following a cyclospora outbreak linked to shredded lettuce, down from a 7% increase in the previous quarter. Parent company Yum Brands reported sales bottomed out the weekend of 18-19 July but have since recovered halfway to year-ago levels. The chain removed shredded iceberg lettuce from US restaurants on 17 July after federal health officials connected it to the outbreak affecting customers in nine states. Taylor Farms recalled iceberg lettuce from central Mexico the following day. Yum Brands chief executive Chris Turner credited quick action, clear social media communication, and daily specials like $1 Mexican pizza for winning back diners. Company shares rose 6% on Thursday. Other chains including Chipotle and Chopt also reported lower traffic due to the outbreak.
Yum Brands reported mixed second-quarter results on Wednesday but provided no update on the cyclospora outbreak linked to Taco Bell restaurants. The company posted adjusted earnings per share of $1.62, beating expectations of $1.58, whilst revenue of $2.17 billion fell short of the $2.2 billion forecast. Net income rose to $853 million from $374 million year-over-year. Net revenue climbed 12% to $2.17 billion, driven by new restaurant openings. Global same-store sales increased 3% in the quarter. Taco Bell's same-store sales jumped 7%, whilst KFC reported 2% growth and Pizza Hut declined 1%. The results cover the period ended 30 June, before the FDA linked the outbreak to Taco Bell in mid-July.
Yum! Brands reported Q1 revenues of $2.06 billion, up 15.2% year-on-year, exceeding analysts' expectations by 0.6%. The owner of KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and The Habit Burger Grill delivered strong results, beating EBITDA and same-store sales estimates. Despite the solid performance, the stock has declined 3.7% since reporting and currently trades at $150.75, suggesting investor expectations may have been higher than Wall Street's published projections. The traditional fast food sector showed strength overall in Q1, with 12 tracked companies collectively beating revenue consensus estimates by 1.4%. El Pollo Loco emerged as the quarter's top performer, reporting revenues of $126.2 million, up 5.9% year-on-year and exceeding expectations by 3.2%. Its shares rose 12.5% following the results.