University of Arizona
Yum China and Alibaba’s Alipay
Heng Leaksmy
ECON 400
Kelli Mayes-Denker
19/11/2017
YUM China and Alibaba’s Alipay
According to an article published in Wall Street Journal
(https://www.wsj.com/articles/out-of-the-frying-pan-in-china-kfc-tests-high-tech-and-healthy-
options-1509964205), one of the fast food chains under Yum China, KFC, that operates in
Hangzhou, China, received a gigantic benefit right after it embellished its restaurants and
adopted the new advanced technology. KFC decorated its restaurants by featuring an open
kitchen and hanging plants. It offered healthier menus for its customers including congee, apple
slices, tuna-and pesto paninis and quinoa-and-corn salads. In China, people are more prompted to
think about food safety and nutrition rather than the authenticity and the service of the
restaurants and this contradicts from the American (Wall Street Journal, 2017).
For the technology, KFC decided to have a partnership with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
affiliate Ant Financial to offer them with the “smile to pay” system. The “smile to pay” system
or “self–serve Kiosk” enables the customers to pay online just by first they have to choose the
items on a video screen, then they have to look at the camera so that the Alipay App could
recognize their face, and at the end they have to enter their phone number for security purpose.
Yum China executives first hesitated in adopting such technology; however, his team told him to
hang in there. Hence, he decided not to interfere with the team and the result was marvelous
because this “self–serve Kiosk” allows the company to cut down the labor cost and organize the
data more effectively and efficiently. With the efficiency in controlling the data, KFC could
