Yum! Brands, Inc., parent company of A&W All-American Food, KFC, Long John Silver’s, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell, has been named one of BLACK ENTERPRISE Magazine’s “40 Best Companies for Diversity” for its comprehensive results across key diversity measures.
BLACK ENTERPRISE’s second annual list of the best companies for diversity is featured in the July 2006 cover story. The magazine evaluated diversity programs, consulted with diversity experts, and surveyed over 1,000 of the country’s largest public companies and more than 50 leading global companies with significant U.S. operations. The magazine made its selection based on the level of African-American and ethnic minority representation in four categories including Board of Directors, procurement, senior management, and total workforce diversity.
Yum! Brands also ranked as one of the “10 Best In Workforce Diversity.” The magazine said the following about Yum!: “Diversity is not optional for Yum! Brands, Inc. Chairman David Novak says that inclusion ‘helps drive all aspects’ of Yum!. Its U.S. workforce is more than 50 percent minority, nearly 50 percent female, and 23 percent black. Also, more than 40 percent of the company’s restaurant managers and above-store employees are minorities. Senior management boasts 13 minority executives, including KFC COO Harvey Brownlee.”
BLACK ENTERPRISE Magazine’s President and CEO Butch Graves said of Yum! Brands, “Your company’s commitment to diversity is a positive sign that we are moving in the right direction. The BLACK ENTERPRISE ’40 Best Companies for Diversity’ truly understand how critically valuable a diverse workforce and inclusive business practices are to the success of their operations. These companies are setting the standard for corporate America, and it is our sincere hope that other companies will follow their lead and build businesses that are more reflective of the society in which we live.”
“We’re honored to be recognized for our diversity achievements,” Novak said. “It is important to drive diversity across every aspect of our business because the more we reflect the global marketplace in which we operate, the greater we can satisfy our customers better than anybody.”
Yum! has been named one of FORTUNE magazine’s “Top 50 Employers for Minorities” and “Top 50 Employers for Women,” one of the “Corporate 100 Companies Providing Opportunities for Hispanics” by Hispanic Magazine, and one of the “Top 50 Corporations for Supplier Diversity” by HISPANIC Trends Magazine.
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 and is a founding member of the National Minority Franchising Initiative, the International Franchise Association’s Diversity Institute, and the Women’s Franchise and Distribution Forum.
In addition to franchising and supplier diversity, Yum!’s diversity strategy includes employment, leadership development, and community involvement. The company and its franchise partners support leading community organizations such as the Congressional Black Caucus; NAACP; National Urban League; National Council of LaRaza; U.S. Pan Asian Chamber of Commerce; MultiCultural Foodservice & Hospitality Alliance, and the Women’s Foodservice Forum, among others.
