Shannon Hennessy, CEO of Habit Burger & Grill, will soon take the stage at the 2025 Women in Restaurant Leadership Together Summit as its keynote speaker (February 19–20 in Nashville), hosted by QSR and FSR. And she’ll have a diverse and eventful journey to share.
Hennessy left her nearly two-decade career as a consultant at McKinsey & Company in 2020 to join Yum! Brands as KFC Global’s CFO before working her way up to her current position. A longtime supporter of inclusion initiatives and an industry changemaker, Hennessy’s unconventional approach has provided her with a unique perspective on career and brand growth.
She will be joined by an array of female leaders from around the sector, working together to connect, foster mentorship opportunities, and provide attendees with actionable career advice and tips on topics ranging from financial acumen to intercultural intelligence, landing a job in tech, and stepping into the C-suite.
Hennessy’s career journey was one of the first to be featured on the WiRL platform back in June. In an exclusive interview with QSR, she shared her lessons on leadership. Here were five takeaways.
Don’t shy away from an unexpected career opportunity
Hennessy left her secure career as a consultant to join the restaurant industry in 2020, at the height of the pandemic. The quick-service landscape was rocky, but she was captivated by the passion of her longtime friend and mentor Chris Turner, Yum! Brands’ CFO. She dove in headfirst, quickly learning the hustle of franchise partners and the intricacies of unit economics.
“I had never seen an executive team talk about people the way that they do, and it captured my imagination. I was excited about the business,” Hennessy says, recalling the moment she decided to formally enter Yum! Brands as KFC Global’s CFO.
Embrace the people-powered nature of the industry
Hennessy was inspired by the hospitality industry’s people-powered nature. She learned to respect the customer’s influence on business operations, quickly realizing how imperative their opinions were.
“We sell food, but at the end of the day, it’s people who make all the difference. I carried that lesson with me as I came over from KFC to The Habit,” Hennessy shares. “As I make decisions, the central point is always considering what’s best for the team, the customer, and the franchisee.”
True growth requires stepping outside of your comfort zone and learning new skills
At KFC, Hennessy was responsible for shaping growth initiatives and digital transformations. When she was promoted to president of Habit Burger & Grill in 2022, she spent over a year with the previous CEO understanding the ethos and business operations as a whole.
“I was eager to take on a role where I could work with the team on a broader set of issues, like marketing and development. These are areas I learned about at KFC but hadn’t directly overseen,” Hennessy says. “I would say the bigger transition for me was coming from a large global franchise to The Habit, which is fast-growth but has a much smaller footprint.”
You can be an ‘and’ brand, not an ‘or’ one
Hennessy’s growth plans for Habit Burger & Grill are ambitious. She intends to break the “craft ceiling,” solidifying the brand as a leader in the better-burger category by scaling its cook-to-order expertise, advancing its digital transformation capabilities, and providing employees and guests with a superb experience.
“We don’t accept the trade-offs that others have had as they think about becoming bigger brands,” Hennessy adds. “We like to say we’re an ‘and’ brand, not an ‘or’ one. We can deliver quality food and do it consistently and make the customer feel good at the same time. I think we’re defying a lot of conventions around growth and becoming a category leader.”
Career journeys are not always linear. Enjoy the ride
Hennessy doesn’t view her career as a ladder or climbing upward from position to position—in fact, she thinks career paths should look more like a web, where being curious and open to opportunities is more important than a job title.
“In my late 20s, I was struggling with this choice of doing something a little bit off of my ladder. I was curious about moving in a different direction even if it wasn’t the fastest path to the top. My mentor at the time told me to try it and see where it leads because it’s really what I wanted to do,” Hennessy says. “It’s been powerful to me because when I think about continual learning and growth, it’s more about skills, creating options, trusting your guts, and enjoying the ride. It’ll probably lead to an even better place, even if it’s not a straight line.”
