Weekly Global News Wrap: KFC Canada recreates Colonel Sanders' voice via Alexa; Pizza Hut overhauls executive team; Dunkin's US$60m bet on high-volume brewers

Here is a summary of the most interesting QSR news stories of the week from around the world.

KFC Canada re-created the voice of the chicken chain’s founder Colonel Harland Sanders in a new voice-activated skill via Alexa-enabled Amazon devices. Done in partnership with Amazon Web Services, the voice re-creation made use of advanced deep learning technologies. Read more here.

Burger King, in partnership with the new film Birds of Prey, is giving away free whoppers in exchange of their customers’ printed photo of their exes on Valentine’s Day across four US cities. Read more here.

Yum! Brands, operator of KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, earned over US$50 billion in system sales in 2019, ending the year with more than 50,000 restaurants worldwide, CEO David Gibbs said in the company’s latest financial report. In Q4, the global restaurant group opened 1,029 net units. Read more here.

The global restaurant operator also announced that KFC US President Kevin Hochman will now also serve as Pizza Hut US’ interim President, according to CNBC. His appointment came as the pizza chain’s same-store sales fell by 4% in Q4 2019. Read more here.

Dunkin’ Brands disclosed in their latest earnings report that they are investing US$60 million on high-volume brewers for their franchisees’ restaurants in 2020 “as part of our commitment to beverage leadership.” The company recently posted a 3.7% revenue growth in 2019, with 385 net Dunkin’ and Baskin-Robbins stores opened globally. Read more here.

The company also named Jill McVicar Nelson as their new VP for Marketing Strategy. She was the previous Director of Corporate Strategy. Read more here.

Chipotle in the US eyes to open 150 to 165 new restaurants in 2020, based on their latest financial report. The company recorded a revenue increase of 14.8% to US$5.6 billion in 2019, with comparable restaurant sales up 11.1%. Read more here.

Grubhub in the US posted a 30% year-on-year revenue growth to US$1.3 billion in 2019, based on the delivery firm’s latest earnings report. In Q4, they added 15,000 partnered and over 150,000 non-partnered restaurants in their platform, with around 500,000 daily orders. Read more here.

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