The Workforce AI Index · Consumer Cyclical
Yum China Holdings, Inc. (YUMC)
Restaurants in China, mostly part-time crew. Read October 1, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending 2025-12-31, filed 2026-02-27. Ranked 32 of the 39 Consumer Cyclical companies read so far, by the share within reach now: the sector.
A restaurant operator in China whose filing states its full-time employees and part-time crew and an office staff count, so the restaurant pattern takes nearly all of a workforce that is 55% part-time.
The figures on this page come from the company's own annual report and from BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. They are estimates with a stated method. Nothing here says what the company will do: within reach is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
What follows from the reading
Share of working time within reach of AI, on the long-run pace at four in five: 11% now, 14% at the end of 2027, 14% at the end of 2028, 14% at the end of 2030. By the patterns, the work is about 14% desk work, 22% people work and 64% body work. These are the site's industry estimates weighted by the shares below: estimates with a stated method and range, not a forecast of what the company will do. By the same patterns, at the end of 2028 about 85% of the working time stays with people (conversation, in-person and hands-on work), 10% becomes checking a model's work and 4% could be handed over with lighter checks, from the industries' own figures, not the company's roles.
Headcount
290,000 employees as of 2025-12-31 (stated). No U.S. share is stated; the company's restaurants are in China.
The filing: “As of December 31, 2025, the Company had approximately 290,000 employees, including approximately 130,000 full-time employees and approximately 160,000 part-time restaurant crew members.”
The workforce as industry patterns
| Pattern | Share | Reason, from the filing |
|---|---|---|
| Restaurants and Other Eating Places | 98% | By (a) and (c): the filing states 160,000 part-time restaurant crew members and describes the full-time employees as restaurant and office staff, with office staff of about 7,000 stated for its benefit platform, so the rest is restaurant work. |
| Management of Companies and Enterprises | 2% | By (a): the filing states a flexible benefit platform covering approximately 7,000 office staff, a corporate count of its own (rule 6). |
What the filing says about the workforce: About 130,000 full-time employees and 160,000 part-time restaurant crew members; around 7,500 employees earned higher education degrees through its continuing education program by the end of 2025.
Companies read with the same leading pattern
Other companies whose largest staffing pattern is also Restaurants and Other Eating Places, largest first, each read from its own annual report. Within reach now and at the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Starbucks (SBUX, 381,000 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028
- Darden (DRI, 209,931 employees)10% now, 13% by 2028
- McDonald's Corporation (MCD, 150,000 employees)10% now, 13% by 2028
- Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG, 130,301 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028
- Texas Roadhouse, Inc. (TXRH, 101,000 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028
- Brinker International, Inc. (EAT, 85,003 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028
- Cracker Barrel Old Country Store (CBRL, 74,500 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028
- Bloomin' Brands, Inc. (BLMN, 64,000 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028
What the filing says about AI
13 sentences in the filing name AI. The filing describes investment in digitalization, automation and AI across customers, stores, supply chain and back office, AI-enabled tools that let restaurant managers oversee multiple stores and forecast transaction volume for labor scheduling, and an AI-enabled system that aids general managers' decisions.
- “We plan to continue our investment in end-to-end digitalization, automation and artificial intelligence ("AI"), with applications across four major areas: customers, stores, supply chain and back office.”
- “We have also introduced a shared management model, Mega RGM, by using AI-enabled digital tools to improve store efficiency and empower our capable restaurant managers to oversee multiple stores without compromising quality, including tools that help analyze and forecast transaction volume so that we can improve labor scheduling and inventory management.”
- “For example, the "Super Brain," an end-to-end AI-enabled system, integrates data from store operations and aids the decision making of restaurant general managers.”
- “Moreover, we plan to further empower our restaurant teams through agentic AI, helping them closely monitor the real-time ordering and operational procedures of the restaurants and make timely staffing adjustments, which is expected to substantially improve in-store management, delivery operations and customer service.”
- “We implement AI-powered smart logistics network planning and intend to continue to upgrade our warehouses with automated solutions to enhance supply chain agility and efficiency.”
Headcount by filing year
As reported in each year's annual report, with the filing. A year marked not read had no figure the reading could take from the report's text.
| Period | Employees | Filed | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-12-31 | 130,000 | 2026-02-27 | 10-K |
| 2024-12-31 | 140,000 | 2025-02-27 | 10-K |
| 2023-12-31 | 155,000 | 2024-02-29 | 10-K |
| 2022-12-31 | 145,000 | 2023-03-01 | 10-K |
| 2021-12-31 | 147,000 | 2022-02-28 | 10-K |
| 2020-12-31 | 136,000 | 2021-02-26 | 10-K |
| 2019-12-31 | 450,000 | 2020-02-27 | 10-K |
| 2018-12-31 | 450,000 | 2019-02-27 | 10-K |
| 2017-12-31 | 450,000 | 2018-02-27 | 10-K |
| 2016-12-31 | 420,000 | 2017-03-08 | 10-K |
Limits of this reading
- The whole workforce is in China; the U.S. staffing patterns are applied to it (rule 7).
- The 7,000 office staff is the count the filing gives for its benefit platform, taken as the corporate headcount.
Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0001193125-26-082824, the filing. Read by Claude Fable 5.1 under rubric version 1, by the method. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Questions about this company
- How much of Yum China Holdings, Inc.'s working time is within reach of AI?
- An estimated 11% now and 14% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five, from the workforce Yum China Holdings, Inc.'s own annual report describes and BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. It is an estimate with a stated method. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings, and it says nothing about what the company will do.
- How many people does Yum China Holdings, Inc. employ?
- 290,000 as of December 31, 2025, as its annual report for the period ending December 31, 2025 states.
- What kinds of work make up Yum China Holdings, Inc.'s workforce?
- Read from its annual report as a blend of 2 industry staffing patterns, the largest Restaurants and Other Eating Places; by those patterns the work is about 14% desk work, 22% people work and 64% body work. Each share has a one-sentence reason on this page that can be checked against the filing.
- What does Yum China Holdings, Inc.'s annual report say about AI?
- 13 sentences in the filing name AI. They are counted and quoted on this page, never judged: a count says how much a filing talks about AI, not what the company does with it.
- How is this estimated?
- Claude Fable 5.1 read the annual report under the Index's written rubric (version 1) on October 1, 2026: the stated headcount, the share in the U.S. when stated, and the workforce as a blend of industry staffing patterns. The estimates are the site's industry estimates weighted by those shares, from O*NET tasks with estimated lengths and METR's measurements of how long a task AI models can finish. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Embed these figures on your site
A small card with the share of working time within reach now and at the end of 2027, 2028 and 2030, the date and a link back. Free under CC BY 4.0; the card carries the credit.