Catherine Tan-Gillespie, who has served as president and general manager of KFC Canada since January 2022, has been named chief marketing officer and chief development officer for KFC U.S., effective immediately. She will report to president Tarun Lal.
Tan-Gillespie is charged with developing marketing strategies to return the business to growth in the domestic market, including oversight of all integrated marketing, advertising, public relations, media and consumer insights, as well as the brand's digital initiatives. She will also oversee food innovation and commercialization, aligning new product efforts across the organization, new restaurant development, existing restaurant redevelopment, and asset design for the U.S.
During her tenure at KFC Canada, her team and franchisees accelerated restaurant upgrades, advanced digital ordering, developed relevant value offers and created award-winning brand advertising, according to the company.
KFC Canada has experienced positive results in recent quarters, with 6.9% sales growth from 2022 to 2023, and 3.5%-unit growth to finish last year with 645 locations.
“Tan-Gillespie is a seasoned leader with a proven record of building brands and delivering compelling marketing initiatives that deliver measurable bottom-line impact,” Lal said in a statement. “By combining marketing and development roles into one, we are acknowledging the importance of the customer experience in our restaurants to overall brand perception and doubling down on our commitments to getting both right.”
She has been with KFC for nine years and previously served as CMO for the South Pacific region and then the KFC Global CMO. Prior to KFC, Tan-Gillespie served in various marketing roles, including for Frito-Lay, Goodman Fielder, Dairy Farmers, Sony, and Universal Pictures. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business studies from the University of Plymouth in the United Kingdom and an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM).
Meanwhile, Ryan Koon, who was named KFC U.S.’s CDO in May, will move into Tan-Gillespie’s role in the Canadian market.
On the marketing side, Tan-Gillespie replaces Nick Chavez, who has served as the chief marketing officer at KFC U.S. since late 2021. Chavez joined KFC from Nintendo, where he served as senior vice president of sales, marketing, and communications. He led several initiatives at the quick-service chicken chain, including the launch of the Original Recipe Nuggets, new kids' meals, wraps, bowls, Saucy Nuggets with several new sauce introductions, new desserts, Taste of KFC Meal Deals, and more.
One of his top priorities was attracting younger and more diverse customers through boneless, portable innovations. During an interview last year, Chavez said KFC has gained share among younger consumers, while the sales mix of its boneless products has “increased significantly.” To execute this initiative, KFC adjusted its marketing strategy more toward social media, influencers, and streaming services. In April, Chavez was named to Nation’s Restaurant News’ 2024 Power List because of this shift.
Despite gaining traction among younger consumers, however, KFC U.S. has largely struggled throughout the past several quarters. In Q2, same-store sales were down 5%, following a negative-7% performance in Q1. According to Technomic data, KFC finished 2023 with a 1.7% sales increase year-over-year, compared to 4.9% at Church’s Texas Chicken, 10% at Bojangles, 10.2% at Popeyes, and 14.7% at Chick-fil-A. KFC’s footprint also shrunk by 3.2% last year, to finish 2023 with 3,791 locations. Earlier this month, about 25 KFC restaurants abruptly closed in various markets in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. All of those restaurants were owned by franchisee EYM Chicken.
Chavez’s departure marks the latest change for KFC’s leadership team since Tarun Lal was named president in 2022. Earlier this year, Thuthuka Nxumalo joined as chief operations officer, while Christophe Poirier was named chief new concept officer, joining Koon as CDO and Heather McCoy as the new chief people officer.
Last summer, Paul Tuscano was named to the newly created chief digital officer role. At that time, he was tasked with working alongside chief technology officer Chris Caldwell to lead restaurant technology initiatives, however Caldwell has since been named chief information officer at Brinker.
Contact Alicia Kelso at [email protected]
