Yum! Brands Inc., the world’s largest restaurant company and parent of KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Long John Silver’s, and A&W Restaurants, was named one of Black Enterprise magazine’s “40 Best Companies for Diversity” for its comprehensive results across key diversity measures for the sixth consecutive year.
Black Enterprise’s sixth annual list of the best companies for diversity is featured in the July 2010 edition. The magazine evaluated diversity programs, consulted with diversity experts, and surveyed over 1,000 of the country’s largest public companies and 50 leading global companies with significant U.S. operations. The magazine made its selection based on the number of African-Americans and members of other ethnic minority groups in four categories including supplier diversity, senior management, Board of Directors, and total employee base. Black Enterprise reported that supplier diversity and total employee base are two areas in which Yum Brands is particularly strong.
“We are truly proud of this distinction and the progress we have made to date on creating a diverse and inclusive culture and are committed to doing even more in the years ahead,” says David Novak, chairman and CEO of Yum! Brands Inc.
For the past several years, Yum Brands has been recognized for its commitment to diversity and inclusion. More than 50 percent of Yum’s U.S. workforce is minorities as well as more than 50 percent of the company’s new hires. In addition, the company has been named one of Fortune magazine’s “Top 50 Employers for Minorities,” one of Fortune’s “Top 50 Employers for Women,” one of Black Enterprise’s “30 Hottest Franchises for 2006,” one of the “Corporate 100 Companies Providing Opportunities for Hispanics” by Hispanic Magazine, one of the “Top 50 Corporations for Supplier Diversity” by Hispanic Enterprise Magazine, one of the “100 Best Corporate Citizens” by “Corporate Responsibility Officer magazine, and by BusinessWeek as one of the “Top 15 Companies for In-Kind Corporate Philanthropy.”
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 Business Enterprise National Council, US Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce, and is a founding member of the International Franchise Association’s Diversity Institute.
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 our multicultural customers through high-impact programs like: College Black Expos, KFC Pride 360°, the LULAC and Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA) National Youth and College Programs, the American Indian College Scholarship Fund, lead sponsorship of the National NAACP Youth and College Division, creation of the Hispanic Magazine Hispana Leadership Summit, and a strategic partnership with National Urban League’s Young Professionals and Urban Influence Magazine, among others.
Many of Yum Brands’ philanthropic efforts are focused on minority community giving and employee volunteerism. Since 2003, the Yum! Brands Foundation has donated over $1 million to the Louisville, Kentucky–based Muhammad Ali Center, an international cultural and educational institution, for the advancement of humanity worldwide. In addition, the company has donated $250,000 for the creation of the Children’s Educational Center as part of the Kentucky Center for African-American Heritage.
