“You can take risks if you’re a young person, but you need to make sure you’ve got Plan B and Plan C covered so your leadership can support you and have your back.” -Kevin Hochman
an idea to bring back Colonel Sanders as the centerpiece of the chain’s marketing. Yet he had to get that idea past skeptical Yum Brands executives, notably then- CEO David Novak. KFC had used Colonel Sanders in ads in the past, to no avail. But Hochman was persistent, and believed in the idea, which would use a series of celebrities impersonating KFC’s famous founder. Even today, nearly a decade later, Hochman recalls exactly why he thought it would work. “Young people distrust everything, right?” Hochman said. “They just distrust all advertising. So, here’s this character, and the whole joke was, ‘I’m here to sell you fried chicken. I’m a character.’ And then we’re going to lean into it and break the fourth wall.” So, Hochman kept tweaking the idea, bringing it back to KFC leadership until it got the OK. And he was proven right. KFC U.S. didn’t report a single quarter of negative same-store sales from the first quarter of 2015 through mid-2019. And it wasn’t lost on
multiple former Yum Brands executives that KFC has not been the same domestically since Hochman left. The story also taught Hochman a key lesson. Take risks. But be prepared. “You can take risks if you’re a young person, but you need to make sure you’ve got Plan B and Plan C covered so your leadership can support you and have your back,” he said. “(Novak) may not agree with the direction, but he had our back because we showed him that we prepared.” Hochman is an avid runner and tennis player. But he is at his best in the kitchen. When he has dinner parties, which he and his wife, Ann, love to host, he spends most of his time working on the meal. Ann is the one who is out front. “You might not actually talk to him a lot at those dinner parties, because he’s usually in the kitchen and he’s got a set schedule and it’s a multi-course meal and he’s usually the one doing the majority of the work,” Chili’s CMO George Felix said. That included his 50th birthday party.
While Hochman at this point of his career can certainly afford a chef or a caterer, he instead invited a select group of friends from around the country and prepared a selection of items unique to them. It’s a trait he learned from his mother, Zella Hochman. Kevin Hochman grew up in Miami, the youngest of three children, and his mother was a big influence. “She lived to serve others,” Hochman said. “She loved having friends over. She loved when we had friends over. She wanted to make them feel special.” She died last June. The following month, Chili’s had its annual conference for general managers. The chain’s loyal employees are known as “Chiliheads.” “It seems like a silly name, Chilihead, and I thought it was silly when I first heard it,” Hochman said. “I really understand what it is now. Chilheads are people who love to serve others. They don’t take themselves too seriously. We’re just serving beer, Southwest Eggrolls and burgers. They love to serve each
CHILI’S U.S. SYSTEM SALES Chili’s U.S. system sales increased 15% in 2024, enabling the chain to overtake longtime rival Applebee’s. Here’s Chili’s sales since 2000.
Source: Technomic | * In billions of $s
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