Yum! Brands, the World’s Largest Restaurant Company, Advances AI Adoption - Ep. 254

Hello, and welcome to the NVIDIA AI podcast. I'm your host, Noah Kravitz. We're here in GTC twenty twenty five in San Jose, California, where I have the pleasure of speaking with Joe Park. Joe is chief digital and technology officer, Yum! Brands Incorporated and president, Byte by Yum! Where he oversees digital experiences, AI driven products, and much more for brands like KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and Habit Burger and Grill. Joe's here to talk about how technology is transforming the quick service restaurant industry, including how Yum! Brands is using AI across their own ecosystem. Joe, thank you so much for taking the time, especially during GTC, to join the AI podcast. Thanks for having me, Noah. Excited to be here. So maybe we can start with you telling us a little bit about your own background, what brought you to Yum! Brands, and how your journey's been with the company to get to the position you're at now. Yeah. So sure. Just a boy from Queens, New York. Happened to grow up loving technology and ended up going to get my undergrad in IT, went to my first job in technology, and got me my way through. So one of those lucky guys that's been able to stay in technology knowing I loved it and continue to be there. Right. You know, it started with, a career with General Electric at the time. Oh, okay. Spent about, twelve years working for GE. I have to ask where were you? Oh, gosh. All all over. All over. Okay. I grew up in Schenectady or outside Schenectady, which is why I asked. Yeah. Well, so I I went to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Yeah. Okay. RPI to get my undergrad. And so that's right in Troy, New York. Yep. And, you know, it was a, talent pipeline for GE. Right. And so my very first job, first internship was in Schenectady, New York. I worked for GE Power. Yeah. Yeah. And so, you know, GE is a huge company, many different industries, and, obviously, played a big part in shaping my my career. So being in GE's energy business, their health care business, their aviation business, financial services, I mean, the list goes on. Yeah. Everything. And being in their leadership development program early on, I got a chance to rotate through different parts of the business Oh, cool. Looking at technology, looking at finance. And so that, played a really big part in how we think about technology as a leader. It certainly played a part in seeing different patterns and how relevant they were no matter if you were in the credit card industry or an aircraft engine or a health care device. There are a lot of commonalities. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. Everyone shares the same challenges. So enjoyed my stint through GE. Following that, I wanted to get a little more faster paced than try out b two c and joined Walmart. Okay. Moving to Bentonville, …