Pizza Hut International Appoints New President

Yum! Brands, Inc. has announced the promotion of Vipul Chawla to president of Pizza Hut International, reporting to Yum! Brands CEO Greg Creed, effective December 3, 2018.

Chawla, who currently serves as managing director of Pizza Hut Asia-Pacific, will assume responsibility for driving the brand strategy and performance of Pizza Hut’s international business outside the U.S.

Pizza Hut is the world’s largest pizza restaurant company with more than USD12bn in global system sales and nearly 17,000 restaurants in over 100 countries and territories as of year-end 2017. General managers of Pizza Hut around the world (excluding the U.S.) as well as leaders of Pizza Hut International’s global functions will report to Chawla effective December 3. Pizza Hut U.S. is led by Artie Starrs, president, reporting to Creed.

“Vipul Chawla is an extraordinarily talented leader and highly respected global marketer with a proven track record of growing Pizza Hut across the Asia-Pacific region with our franchise partners. He’s the ideal person to take Pizza Hut International to the next level by ensuring that each market has strong operations and digital execution in place, offers compelling value and consistently communicates the brand positioning,” said Creed.

Chawla will succeed Milind Pant, who has served as Pizza Hut International President for the past three years and has made the personal decision to step down from his role at the end of November to pursue other opportunities outside the company.