Taco Bell and KFC want to make fried chicken and taco delivery as normal as ordering pizza
- Taco Bell and KFC are working to roll out delivery at locations across the United States.
- The two chains, along with fellow Yum Brands sister chain Pizza Hut, have added delivery to roughly 10,000 more locations globally over the last year.
- "We know more about delivery than just about any company on the face of the earth," Yum Brands president David Gibbs told Business Insider at the company's investors day last week.
Soon, people across the United States will be able to order KFC and Taco Bell to their doorstep.
The sister chains - owned by Yum Brands, as is Pizza Hut - are doubling down on delivery. In the last 12 months, Yum Brands has added delivery to roughly 10,000 more locations across the three brands, CEO Greg Creed said last week at the company's investors day.
"There's no doubt that the consumer wants delivery," Creed said. "There's no doubt that they're prepared to pay for delivery. There's no doubt we see a higher check."
KFC aims to have 70% of its locations around the world deliver fried chicken, with the delivery business already thriving in areas such as the Middle East and Thailand. While executives said delivery was in its early days in the US, some American locations are already making 10% of sales off of delivery orders. And, by 2020, KFC plans to have more locations offering delivery than any single pizza chain.
Julie Felss Masino, the president of Taco Bell North America, told investors that early indications at stores that started offering delivery in September were "incredibly positive." Taco Bell has integrated more than 4,000 locations with Grubhub. Yum Brands announced plans to acquire $200 million in Grubhub stock in February.
'We know more about delivery than just about any company on the face of the earth'
"You'll see us take the delivery equation at KFC and Taco Bell step by step," David Gibbs, Yum Brands' president and chief financial officer, told Business Insider at Yum Brands' investors day.
Yum Brands' first step is integrating point-of-sales systems. Next comes leaning in to marketing, something Gibbs says the chain is starting to do in local markets across the US, followed by national advertising.
"There is very big potential for delivery at KFC and Taco Bell," Gibbs said. "The question is how quickly we can realize it."
The three brands together, as well as Grubhub, give Yum both more information and wider scale than other restaurants trying to profit from the delivery business.
"We are in a very unique position," Gibbs said. "We know more about delivery than just about any company on the face of the earth."
"You see a lot of people getting into it," Gibbs continued. "And not everyone is making money. People struggle with the functional aspects of it - getting food to customers on time and accurately. We've been learning those lessons for more than two decades in the United States and around the world."