How KFC and Taco Bell’s top technologist is embracing AI and automation across 63,000 restaurants

When Jim Dausch joined restaurant operator Yum Brands in late 2024, one of his first orders of business was to find a way to ensure Pizza Hut’s food was delivered as hot as possible.

Previously, the software that connected the chain’s kitchen and fleet systems processed orders in a rudimentary “first in, first out” flow.

An order would come into the restaurant and a ticket would immediately be generated to tell the kitchen to put the pizza in the oven.

But there were plenty of times where the the order would sit idle waiting for an available driver.

Dausch and his team created a data-forward automation layer that changed the workflow, telling cooks not to make the pizza until the system knew with greater certainty that further down the chain, a driver would be available for pickup.

The change led to hotter food deliveries and a “meaningful” increase in customer satisfaction scores, according to Dausch.

“We are sort of step-by-step going through what it takes to run our restaurant and finding every way we possibly can to automate those things,” says Dausch.

Dausch joined Yum Brands, which recently saw sales take a hit from a cyclospora outbreak, in December 2024 as global chief digital and technology officer of Pizza Hut.

He was promoted 11 months later to hold that same title across the entire enterprise, which includes the Taco Bell and KFC brands.

He oversees Yum’s websites and apps, digital order platforms, corporate systems, AI and data, and restaurant technology across 63,000 global locations that are operated by around 1,500 franchisees.

Yum is Dausch’s first foray into the restaurant sector, but he says that his thinking around technology closely mirrors his 20 years of experience at hospitality giant Marriott .

All of his technology investments focus on customers, workers, and the franchisees.

For the franchisees, food and labor have traditionally been their largest expenses, but increasingly, they’ve had to increase their investments in technology.

Still, Dausch says they have little appetite to just accept every new tool without a clear return on investment.