Yum Brands acquires Tictuk Technologies, allowing customers to place orders through text and social mediaYum Brands acquires Tictuk Technologies, allowing customers to place orders through text and social media

Joanna Fantozzi

Yum Brands announced Wednesday the acquisition of TicTuk Technologies, an Israeli omnichannel ordering and marketing platform company, which will allow Yum Brands customers to place digital orders via text and through various social media platforms, including Facebook messenger, WhatsApp, SMS, QR codes and email.

This is the second technology company acquisition the Pizza Hut and Taco Bell parent company has unveiled this month. Earlier in March, Yum Brands announced their intention to acquire Kvantum, a company that uses artificial intelligence to track consumer insights and marketing and marketing performance, with the deal expected to close by the end of the first quarter this year.

TicTuk’s capabilities include not only opening up digital ordering opportunities to more platforms but also the ability to engage with customers through chat features, web advertising and marketing technologies. The technology is able to seamlessly communicate with all Yum Brands’ point of sales systems, and can be used for delivery, curbside pickup and in-store dining.

“As we navigate a consumer landscape reshaped by the events of 2020, we continue to intensify our focus on leveraging our scale and reinforcing our growth model with investments in digital and technologies to enhance the customer and employee experience, strengthen restaurant unit economics and enable our brands and franchisees to compete and win in a rapidly changing world,” David Gibbs, CEO of Yum Brands said in a statement.

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TicTuk’s omnichannel capabilities are already available at approximately 900 KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell restaurants in 35 countries outside of the U.S. with plans to open it up to more of the company’s portfolio globally very soon.

The acquisition of Kvantum, meanwhile, will allow Yum to optimize their marketing dollars and know where their more lucrative spends should be. The artificial intelligence is able measure the effects of marketing tactics in specific locations across different channels.

“Technology strategies that elevate the customer and employee experience and lead to smart, data-driven marketing decisions are critical to keeping our brands R.E.D. (relevant, easy to access and distinctive) and delivering growth for our franchisees and shareholders,” said David Gibbs, Chief Executive Officer, Yum! Brands. “We’re excited about the opportunity this acquisition presents, and the potential to scale Kvantum’s proven technologies across our system to strengthen our data and advanced analytics capabilities and elevate our world-class marketing competencies globally.”

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The goal is to ultimately use Kvantum’s marketing response findings to better understand consumer behavior in partnership with Collider Lab, a consumer insights and marketing strategy consultancy Yum acquired in 2015.

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