Yum China CEO reveals why the company is tackling delivery in a completely different way from its rivals

• Yum China approaches delivery a little bit differently from its competitors.
• Unlike its competitors, who tend to outsource delivery, CEO Joey Wat says the company prefers to keep delivery in-house.
• Business Insider spoke to Wat at the World Economic Forum about the brand's plans for growth. Delivery is a huge part of that.

• "Because I'm a foodie, I love food. I want to make sure that by the time the food reaches the customer, the food is still nice and warm," Wat said.

• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

DAVOS, Switzerland - Yum China does delivery differently from its competitors, and it's all because its CEO, Joey Wat, really loves food.

Originally part of Yum Brands in America, Yum China spun off from its US parent company in 2016. Wat, who was previously CEO of KFC China, became CEO of Yum China in 2018.

Business Insider spoke with Wat at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, about the brand's plans for growth. Wat is optimistic about Yum's potential for expansion, and she sees delivery as one of the brand's most important avenues for growth.

"The growth of delivery in China has been phenomenal in the last few years and it will continue to grow," Wat told Business Insider.

Wat sees delivery as a two-part challenge: sourcing traffic and delivering food. While KFC and Pizza Hut source 60% of its traffic through delivery aggregators, they get the remaining 40% of their delivery traffic through Yum's "super app."

"But when it comes to delivery, we do it 100% ourselves," Wat said. "And that is something that only Yum China does compared to our competitors. The rest of them will have some kind of business partner do the delivery for them. "

The reason is simple: "Because I'm a foodie, I love food. I want to make sure that by the time the food reaches the customer, the food is still nice and warm."

She attributes the explosive growth of the delivery sector to two things: major advances in technology in the last few years, and China's high rate of female employment.

"When wives are busy, delivery comes simply because you don't have time to cook," Wat said. "There is a real demand there."

Yum's "super app," which launched in 2018, is designed to accommodate working women who need to feed families. It comes with a variety of unusual features, including an audiobook playlist, a virtual shopping mall, and the capability to control the lighting in select KFC and Pizza Hut stores.