Dive Brief:
- Yum Brands’ rollout of Byte, a system of AI-powered technologies, is helping the restaurant company improve customer and employee experiences, executives said on a Q2 2025 earnings call Tuesday.
- Taco Bell is using Byte to make it easier for customers to customize digital orders, according to Chris Turner, chief financial and franchise officer at Yum. Turner, who will take over the CEO role in October, said easy digital experiences drive overall sales growth.
- Yum brands can use a AI-powered voice of the consumer tool to aggregate consumer reviews from social media and third-party platforms and use that feedback to optimize restaurant operations, CEO David Gibbs said.
Dive Insight:
Yum’s AI investments are part of a connected brand strategy that aims to simultaneously strengthen operations and enhance customer experience.
Taco Bell’s drive-thru voice AI rollout has reached 600 locations, according to Turner. The AI, which takes orders and relays the information to staff to simplify operations, has led to reduced employee turnover in locations where it is deployed.
“I was actually amazed at how seamless those consumer conversations were when wearing the headset for an hour and a half to two hours,” Turner said during the call. “There was only one of those conversations where we needed [intervention] from a team member in the store, and the voice AI made that job dramatically easier.”
Yum has seen the importance of its digital ordering experience across its brands, which also include KFC and Pizza Hut. Digital as a share of total sales reached 57% overall in the second quarter of 2025, up 7 percentage points year over year, according to Gibbs.
KFC recorded high digital growth, with sales up 22%,Gibbs said. The increase brought KFC’s digital mix to 60% of total sales.
Taco Bell reached a record 41% digital mix, according to Gibbs. The increase was driven in part by loyalty program offerings, and loyalty membership grew 45% year over year.
Digital sales reached $9 billion systemwide, according to a company earnings report. Same-store sales were up 2% year over year, with growth at KFC and Taco Bell offsetting a decline at Pizza Hut.
