Pizza Hut APAC MD Vipul Chawla takes on international role

Yum! Brands Inc has promoted of Vipul Chawla (pictured) to president of Pizza Hut International, effective 3 December 2018. Prior to the move, Chawla was managing director of Pizza Hut Asia Pacific.The move will see Chawla reporting to Yum! Brands CEO Greg Creed and assume responsibility for driving the brand strategy and performance of Pizza Hut’s international business outside the US. General managers of Pizza Hut around the world (excluding the US) as well as leaders of Pizza Hut International’s global functions will report to Chawla. He also takes over from Milind Pant, who steps down end November after three years in the role to pursue other opportunities outside the company.As MD of Pizza Hut Asia Pacific, Chawla led Pizza Hut’s business outside the US, spanning nearly 5,000 franchise restaurants across 16 markets. He previously served as general manager of Pizza Hut Asia as well as CMO of KFC Asia where he elevated KFC’s brand positioning and accelerated its growth across the region, a statement read. Chawla joined Yum! in 2011 after spending 20 years with Unilever serving in various leadership positions.“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,” Creed said.Creed added Chawla is the “ideal person to take Pizza Hut International to the next level” by ensuring each market has strong operations and digital execution in place, offers compelling value and consistently communicates the brand positioning.“I want to thank Milind Pant for his strong leadership, passion and contributions to Pizza Hut and Yum! Brands over the past decade and wish him continued success on his future endeavours,” he said.Marketing has reached out to Yum! Brands for comment.Read also: Pizza Hut CMO Pankaj Batra moves on to new role after 11 years in Asia A slice of truth: Why Pizza Hut’s social faux pas could have happened to you QSR and foodpanda join hands to expand delivery networks of KFC and Pizza Hut Pizza Hut reinforces belief that passion makes things better