<p>When people hear the words "sustainable palm oil," they often think about rainforests, wildlife and the climate. Those issues are important, and they were certainly on my mind as I joined Yum’s global oils category lead and traveled to Ecuador with the global nonprofit environmental organization Conservation International, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and other industry partners to visit a supplier, palm oil farms, and producers.</p>
<p>But there’s another factor in making palm oil sustainable, and it’s one that’s central to Yum! Brands’ culture: people. After spending time with farmers, suppliers and local partners, I was fully reminded that sustainability isn't just about protecting forests. It's also about the people growing our food, the partnerships that further responsible sourcing efforts and the choices we make today to build a stronger supply chain for the future.</p>
<p>Responsible sourcing has been a priority at Yum! for years. Through our work on commodities like palm oil and soy, we help further the protection of forests, respect for human rights and a better understanding of where our ingredients come from, helping to ensure we have resilient supply chains needed to support our restaurants and business in the long term.</p>
<p><img src="/wps/wcm/connect/yumbrands/fe36a273-8521-4ec9-bae3-01ff91e80add/1/Dia1_RSPO_EB-27.jpg?MOD=AJPERES" alt="" width="480" title="" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></p>
<p>In late 2025, Yum! and KFC launched a collaboration with Conservation International to strengthen agricultural supply chains for palm oil and soy in Ecuador and Brazil. In critical places like the Amazon rainforest and Cerrado grasslands, we are supporting farming communities and helping protect the landscapes they depend on. Visiting Ecuador gave me the opportunity to see what that work looks like on the ground.</p>
<p><b>How palm oil is produced sustainably</b></p>
<p>One of the highlights of the trip was visiting a RSPO-certified palm farm and processing mill. Walking through the farm and seeing the mill in action gave me greater appreciation for everything that happens before an ingredient like palm oil ever reaches one of our restaurants.</p>
<p>Palm oil is one of the world's most widely used cooking oils because it's incredibly efficient, producing more oil on less land than crops like soy, canola or sunflower. Plus, oil palm trees produce fruit three to four years after planting and can remain productive for 30 years. But like many agricultural products, how it's produced matters. Poorly managed production can contribute to deforestation and biodiversity loss, making responsible farming practices essential.</p>
<p><img src="/wps/wcm/connect/yumbrands/fe36a273-8521-4ec9-bae3-01ff91e80add/2/Dia3_RSPO_EB-25.jpg?MOD=AJPERES" alt="" width="480" title="" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></p>
<p>What stood out to me about this particular Ecuadorian farm was its people and processes. Workers hand-harvest ripe fresh fruit bunches with sickle-shaped blades to handpick the fruit from trees. They’d cut down heavy fruit bunches weighing as much as 50 lbs.! The fruit was then transported to a mill within 24 hours to ensure the quality of the oil. Once in the mill, the fruit was steam sterilized to stop enzymes from degrading the oil and then machinery took over from there – stripping the fruit, pressing them to release crude oil (eventually refined and used by KFC for cooking) and cracking the remaining nuts to obtain kernel oil (typically used for cosmetics).</p>
<p>RSPO guidelines have outlined agricultural practices to help farms like this Ecuadorian one, produce profitable crops while protecting forests and critical habitat.</p>
<p>Farmers, suppliers, certification organizations, procurement teams and companies like Yum! all have a part to play in this production. The more we understand where our ingredients come from and how they're produced, the better decisions we can make together that ultimately strengthen our supply chain and broader business.</p>
<p><b>Supporting farmers strengthens sustainability</b></p>
<p><b><img src="/wps/wcm/connect/yumbrands/fe36a273-8521-4ec9-bae3-01ff91e80add/3/Dia2_RSPO_EB-29.jpg?MOD=AJPERES" alt="" width="620" title="" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></b>The most meaningful part of my visit was meeting the smallholder farmers who own palm farms. Listening to their stories gave me a deeper appreciation for the challenges they face every day. The average smallholder, which is a farmer who owns or rents a small plot of land, in Ecuador grows nearly 100 acres of oil palm trees. They're working to provide for their families while managing small businesses and adapting to changing expectations around sustainability like evolving farming practices or required government certifications. Many don't have the same resources or technical expertise as larger organizations, yet they're committed to improving their practices.</p>
<p>One key way to encourage responsible farming and better protect natural resources is through certification programs. But earning and maintaining those certifications takes time, investment and detailed documentation. While certifications play a key role in setting expectations and protecting the environment, farmers need support to meet them.</p>
<p>That's one reason KFC's partnership with Conservation International focuses on working alongside producers, suppliers and local communities. Through knowledge sharing and stronger local partnerships, farmers can succeed while supporting healthier landscapes for the future.</p>
<p><b>Why responsible sourcing matters</b></p>
<p><img src="/wps/wcm/connect/yumbrands/fe36a273-8521-4ec9-bae3-01ff91e80add/4/Dia2_RSPO_EB-57.jpg?MOD=AJPERES" alt="" width="620" title="" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></p>
<p>One lesson became clear throughout the trip. By helping farmers adopt more responsible agricultural practices, we can support greater productivity on existing farmland, help protect habitats and strengthen the resilience of our supply chain.</p>
<p>With a greater output, we’re better equipped to withstand challenges like changing weather, shifting markets and growing demand. Those benefits extend well beyond palm oil and include soy and other commodities to promote more sustainable sourcing across commodities.</p>
<p>I’ve always believed that businesses and the environment have a symbiotic relationship, and I left Ecuador with an even stronger opinion that sustainability is about protecting the planet and its people. It's about supporting farmers, protecting natural resources and building partnerships that strengthen communities while creating a more resilient supply chain. Those are investments that benefit everyone, from the people growing our food to the customers we serve.</p>
<p>Hope to see you at a KFC soon, enjoying delicious fried chicken and knowing that we’re taking steps to source ingredients more responsibly.</p>
<p>Habit Burger & Grill started in Santa Barbara, California, in 1969. It’s since grown to almost 400 restaurants across the United States but has remained true to its Californian roots through its laidback atmosphere and made-to-order fare, featuring burgers chargrilled over an open flame, just like food was prepared at the original Habit nearly 60 years ago.</p>
<p>In 2025, the brand added another California connection by <a href="https://www.yum.com/wps/portal/yumbrands/Yumbrands/news/company-stories-article/Habit+Burger+Grill+brings+madetoorder+quality+to+Dodger+Stadium+at+game+day+speed" >teaming up with the Los Angeles Dodgers in a sponsorship deal</a> that included a Habit location in the stadium’s Centerfield Plaza and led to the opening of Dodgers x Habit Home Base, a Dodgers-themed restaurant located nearby in Echo Park. The latter includes a mural complete with a bobble head ball player holding a Charburger, painted by Los Angeles native Alex “Ali” Gonzalez. </p>
<p>“Ali’s work stops people in their tracks,” said Jack Lettenmair, Habit director of Brand & Product Marketing. “People don’t just walk past one of his murals. They stop, take a photo and send it to someone. His work is rooted in L.A., but it travels far beyond the walls of the city.”</p>
<p>True to form, Gonzalez’s Habit mural already has amassed hundreds of thousands of virtual shares, including by some notable Angelenos including two starting Dodgers pitchers, who appear in two of his murals in Pawradise Park and Burbank. The players’ images are so lifelike, they appear as photographs, a nod to Gonzalez’s skill and “grayscale realism” style.</p>
<p><img src="/wps/wcm/connect/yumbrands/9e778d14-9994-466f-b999-abfad023c169/1/1774555998899+1+%281%29.jpg?MOD=AJPERES" alt="" width="520" title="" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></p>
<p>“I’m mostly self-taught,” Gonzalez said. “I’ve always been attracted to drawing and painting, and over the years I just kept practicing, experimenting and figuring things out through doing the work. A lot of my learning came from actually taking on projects that were bigger and more challenging than what I had done before.”</p>
<p>One such project is a mural featuring a U.S. President at Gonzalez’s former high school in Granada Hills. It was his first mural and gave him the confidence to pick up additional work, including a role as a production assistant on a prolific reality competition show during its first season. Five seasons in, he pitched an idea for original artwork on the show, which executives greenlit, leading to independent commissions from multiple judges from that same show.</p>
<p>“Ali is this homegrown talent who’s a celebrity in his own right,” Lettenmair said. “A lot of artists come to L.A. hoping to make it. Ali’s from here. He built his following doing what he loves, and you can see that love and connection to the city in his work.”</p>
<p>To date, Gonzalez has drawn murals for renowned U.S. and international brands and has featured basketball greats in his work. For Habit, he wanted the design to “feel like L.A. and authentic to the Dodgers, but I also didn’t want it to just look like a giant Dodgers advertisement.” With a cityscape towering over a sign welcoming guests to Dodgers x Habit Home Base, and some nods to Dodgers iconography, the mural achieves his vision.</p>
<p><img src="/wps/wcm/connect/yumbrands/9e778d14-9994-466f-b999-abfad023c169/2/1774555992434+1+%281%29.jpg?MOD=AJPERES" alt="" width="520" title="" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></p>
<p>The art also evokes the feel of Echo Park. Known for its popularity with artists, musicians and young professionals, the area combines an edgy, urban cityscape with trendy coffee shops, vintage boutiques and late-night taco trucks.</p>
<p>“I wanted the mural to make sense where it was actually going to live,” Gonzalez said. “You’re not just designing something for a blank canvas. You’re designing something that people are going to see as part of their neighborhood. The L.A. cityscape and Dodgers…connection felt very natural for that location.”</p>
<p>Front and center of the art is Gonzalez’s go-to Habit order – a Double Charburger with Cheese – which is held by the team mascot, a Dodgers Bobblehead. Missing from the mural is a side of Tempura Green Beans, which Gonzalez also swears by and admits that many were consumed while working on the mural.</p>
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<p>Responses to the Habit mural have been overwhelmingly positive, Gonzalez said.</p>
<p>“The best reactions are when people stop while you’re working and immediately recognize the Dodgers and Habit connection,” he said. “It’s a very unique, one-of-a-kind restaurant location and mural.”</p>
<p>As for what’s next for the artist, he’s up for another collaboration.</p>
<p>“I’d love to keep doing projects that bring together art, sports, music and LA culture. There are so many possibilities,” he said. “A major project with the Dodgers or another iconic L.A. brand would definitely be a dream. Maybe a custom mural for a baseball legend would be the Grand Slam of a project.”</p>
<p> And with a Double Charburger with Cheese and Tempura Green Beans as part of the process, Habit may just be the fuel behind his next larger-than-life tribute to L.A. culture.</p>
<p>Siena Laws, Krystal Salmeron and Jenna Barada have never met, and their dream jobs vary from <a href="https://tacobellfoundation.org/live-mas-scholarship/" >firefighter</a> to <a href="https://kfcfoundation.org/6977/" >accountant</a> to <a href="https://www.habitburger.com/fueling-the-next-generation-at-prostart-competitions/" >chef</a>. But each of their futures is funded by one of Yum! and its brands’ many scholarship initiatives.</p>
<p>Since its founding in 1997, parent company, Yum!, and its brands, KFC, Taco Bell and Habit Burger & Grill, have donated millions of dollars to the educational endeavors of their fans and restaurant team members. It’s part of Yum!’s broader Food & Futures strategy, which aims to create greater access to jobs and career growth, strengthening communities and expanding possibilities around the world, in addition to expanding access to meals for people who need them most.</p>
<p><iframe width="640" height="360" title="vimeo-player" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/1084475176?h=c7e1984313" frameborder="0" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allow="autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; web-share" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<p>Siena Laws received a $25,000 Live Mas Scholarship from the Taco Bell Foundation in 2025; she plans to work in first response as a firefighter or use her nursing degree to work in an intensive care unit or as a flight nurse. That same year, the foundation gave over $14 million in scholarships to individuals like Laws, <a href="https://www.yum.com/wps/portal/yumbrands/Yumbrands/news/company-stories-article/How+KFC+US+Taco+Bell+US+and+The+Habit+Burger+Grill+turned+spare+change+into+more+than+30+million+for+charity" >mostly funded by Taco Bell’s round-up program</a> in which fans choose to round up their check to the nearest dollar. The scholarship remains one of the few that requires no academic test scores or grade point averages to apply, fueling the doers, dreamers and cultural rebels who know how to Live Más.</p>
<p>“The Live Más Scholarship is designed to recognize young people for who they are and what they’re passionate about — not just what shows up on a transcript,” said Morgan Tabor, executive director of the Taco Bell Foundation. “Thanks to the generosity of Taco Bell fans, we’re able to help remove financial barriers and support the next generation of creators, leaders and changemakers as they pursue the futures they imagine for themselves.”</p>
<p>Krystal Salmeron, a KFC shift supervisor in Moses Lake, Washington, and the aforementioned accounting student, aims to be the first person in her family to earn a college degree. She attends Gonzaga University as a dual degree student, completing both her high school education and associate’s degree at the same time, while still graduating with her bachelor's degree in four years.</p>
<p>“KFC restaurant employees work incredibly hard, both in their restaurants and toward the goals they have for their futures,” said Emma Horn, executive director of the KFC Foundation. “We’re so proud to invest in students like Krystal and help make the path to a college degree a little easier.” </p>
<p>The KFC Foundation awarded $2 million in scholarships to over 330 restaurant employees across the United States this year, and 11 of those students (11 being a nod to the Colonel’s 11 herbs and spices) were awarded $20,000 each for their resilience, determination and drive to build a better future. This is on top of the over $4 million the brand gave in educational funding in 2025.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/wps/wcm/connect/yumbrands/043c2955-fd51-4060-94eb-9ebbc9d2cac7/1/boo_9872-edit-92-_update2.jpg?MOD=AJPERES" alt="" width="620" title="" /></p>
<p>Last year, the aspiring chef Jenna Barada competed in ProStart, a culinary arts and restaurant management program for high school students. Not only did she take home a medal, but she got to spend a day inside Habit Chef Jason Triail’s Innovation Kitchen and received $4,000 to put toward her continuing culinary education.</p>
<p>“We are profoundly honored to support scholarships that empower our youth. By fostering the talent, passion and potential of these young individuals, we are investing in their educations to help build a stronger, more vibrant community tomorrow, and we couldn't be prouder to stand behind them,” said Stacy Hua, Habit Social Purpose team chair. </p>
<p>Habit supports educational scholarships through both industry partnerships and local community fundraising. As a state sponsor of ProStart in California and Arizona, Habit helps open scholarship opportunities for top-performing student teams through the program’s competitions. At the local level, individual Habit restaurants partner with school districts, PTAs and universities to host scholarship fundraising nights, donating 20% of net sales from those events directly to school scholarship funds. </p>
<p>“It’s inspiring to see the commitment that our global brands and markets have to making education accessible and affordable for the next generation of leaders,” said Kat Abner, Yum! Community Impact Center of Excellence head, citing many examples.</p>
<p>KFC Costa Rica gave over $6,500 in 2025, and one of its scholarship recipients now manages a restaurant. KFC Trinidad & Tobago provides $5,000 in bursary support to two students at The University of the West Indies each year. Past recipients have pursued degrees in food innovation, agriculture, finance, business and restaurant entrepreneurship. While this aid pays for housing, tuition and books, KFC T&T also donates food through its Harvest program for students who cannot afford regular meals.</p>
<p>“At its core, our approach is about creating access and reducing some of the barriers that can make completing a university education more difficult,” said KFC T&T Brand and Harvest Lead Trisha Baksh. “We also see value in supporting areas of study that can contribute to Trinidad & Tobago's future talent pipeline, including food, agriculture, business and entrepreneurship.”</p>
<p><img src="/wps/wcm/connect/yumbrands/043c2955-fd51-4060-94eb-9ebbc9d2cac7/2/makabongwe.png?MOD=AJPERES" alt="" width="420" title="" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></p>
<p>KFC Thailand has provided over 300 high school juniors and seniors with free academic courses, mentorship and free college tuition through its Youth Academy program. And in South Africa, KFC’s Ikusasa Lethu (or “Our Future”) Scholarship Programme funds tuition for qualifying children of employees at Curro schools across all nine provinces, removing financial barriers to quality education while also providing mentorship and specialized tutoring support. Each year, around 25 students benefit from the program, and to date, 12 graduates have completed matric and progressed to tertiary studies, with 51 total years of education made possible through the initiative and a 90% pass rate.</p>
<p>The list goes on, Abner said, including one initiative in Yum!’s home in Louisville, Kentucky.</p>
<p><img src="/wps/wcm/connect/yumbrands/043c2955-fd51-4060-94eb-9ebbc9d2cac7/3/Scholars%2Bgroup%2B2025_Crop+%281%29.jpeg?MOD=AJPERES" alt="" title="" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></p>
<p>At the University of Louisville, the Yum! Center for Global Franchise Excellence has the only undergraduate certificate program in franchise management in the U.S. This is a stackable credential within any degree program. This year, a PhD focused on franchising was added, and in 2025, the company gave $1 million to fund the education of its Yum! Scholars, 20 undergraduate students whose franchising education is supported through the program. </p>
<p>“As Yum! is 98% franchised, the company is heavily invested in funding this form of entrepreneurship,” said Kathleen Gosser, who has a doctorate in Educational Leadership & Organizational Development and is the center director and associate professor at the UofL College of Business. </p>
<p>The Yum! Scholars, like thousands of others across the globe, are feeding their futures with Yum! and its brands’ sponsored scholarships. Whether supporting a future first-generation college graduate, a nursing student with dreams of serving her community or the next generation of franchise leaders, Yum! and its brands are investing in people whose ambitions can help strengthen families, workplaces and communities for years to come.</p>
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