Kevin Hochman serves as Chief Executive Officer and President of Brinker International, Inc., one of the world’s leading casual dining companies and home of Chili’s® Grill & Bar, Maggiano’s Little Italy® and a virtual brand: It’s Just Wings®. He is also President of Chili’s and a member of Brinker’s Board of Directors.
As CEO, he leads more than 60,000 Team Members who own making millions of Guests feel special every week. Kevin is responsible for driving Brinker’s growth strategy, ensuring the company’s core values and culture are embedded in every restaurant and the Restaurant Support Center and overseeing restaurant operations worldwide.
Kevin has more than 25 years of experience working in leading global companies. Prior to joining Brinker in 2022, he held multiple leadership positions at Yum! Brands from 2014 to 2022 most recently serving as U.S. KFC President for more than five years while concurrently leading the Pizza Hut Brand as President from 2020 to 2022. In his KFC role, Kevin and his team led the KFC brand turnaround, which included new advertising, re-training restaurant teams, remodeling restaurants and making back-of-house improvements that delivered eight consecutive years of same-store sales growth for the now $5 billion U.S. brand. Kevin also led similar comp store growth success at Pizza Hut during his more than two years of tenure with that brand.
Kevin has received several awards in recognition of his brand-building leadership and innovative thinking, including being named to Nation’s Restaurant News Power List and PR Week’s Power List for several years. He was also named the Forbes No. 2 most influential CMO in the world when he was the KFC Chief Marketing Officer for his leadership in resurrecting the brand in the U.S. with the now-iconic rotating Colonels Campaign.
Before his start in the restaurant industry, he held various finance, brand management and marketing roles at Procter & Gamble, including North America Cosmetics Business Leader. His 18-year tenure at P&G covered many leading top consumer brands in multiple categories including the now famous Old Spice turnaround brand campaign.
Kevin is a proud alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in economics from The Wharton School and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Annenberg School for Communication.
Outside of the office, Kevin enjoys spending time with his wife, Ann, and two teenage children. He likes running, golf, tennis and cooking. He also takes time to give back to the communities and organizations where he lives and works.
His favorites at Chili’s? Chips and Salsa with a side of Skillet Queso, Blackberry Margarita, Fajitas, Old Timer with Cheese and Southwest Eggrolls
His favorites at Maggiano’s? Italian Chopped Salad, Famous Rigatoni D, Shrimp Fra Diavolo and Chicken Parmesan
