After driving Taco Bell to outperform its fellow restaurant chains, Chief Executive Sean Tresvant has been asked to work his magic across the rest of Yum! Brands’ business portfolio.
Tresvant, who joined the Irvine-based fast-food chain in 2022 and was named CEO in 2024, was promoted to chief consumer officer at Louisville-based Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM) in September.
He will continue to lead Taco Bell, though he now oversees “efforts across all brands to enhance consumer insights, drive brand relevance, and foster innovation that resonates with consumers worldwide,” according to the parent organization.
“Sean is a talented and visionary business leader, and Taco Bell’s consumer-centric growth is undeniable,” Yum! Brand’s newest CEO Chris Turner said in a statement. “His ability to create cultural relevance, fuel growth, and connect with consumers in meaningful ways makes him the perfect leader to ensure our iconic brands win the hearts of the future consumer.”
His quick rise comes after having no experience in the restaurant industry before landing at Taco Bell.
He came to Taco Bell after spending more than a decade at Nike, where his last role was chief marketing officer of the Jordan brand.
During his tenure, he’s led Taco Bell to record growth in U.S. same-store sales across all four quarters in 2024, a trend that continued in 2025, outperforming competitors such as Chipotle Mexican Grill and El Pollo Loco, which struggled with the same metric last year.
Tresvant believes that the same business strategy he used to keep the taco chain at the top of its game will continue to work for Yum’s other brands, including Irvine-based Habit Burger & Grill, KFC and Pizza Hut. However, Pizza Hut might not be around for long, as Yum said in November that it is exploring a possible sale of the brand.
“This expanded role now allows for more targeted opportunities to partner across Yum in thoughtful ways, always leading with that same fan-driven mindset that puts the consumer of today and tomorrow at the center of every decision,” Tresvant told the Business Journal in an email.
One thing has remained true for Tresvant—growth starts with the consumer.
“We stay close to what our fans want, respond with bold food and strong value, and show up in more moments of their day through culture and digital,” he said. “When the brand feels relevant and easy to choose, growth naturally follows.”
For his accomplishments last year, Tresvant is the Business Journal’s Businessperson of the Year in the restaurant sector (see more, pages 1, 6, 8, 10 and 14).
Tresvant’s Magic Formula
By Wall Street standards, Taco Bell is the star of Louisville-based Yum! Brands, which touts itself as the world’s largest restaurant company with 62,000 restaurants in 155 countries. About 1,500 franchisees run a vast majority of the units.
Taco Bell’s same-store sales, a key measure of growth, increased 7% in the first three quarters of 2025. By contrast, during the same period, KFC’s same-store sales were up 2% while Pizza Hut’s were down 1%.
“The U.S. QSR environment remains tough, but TB is clearly outperforming in the near term, with more opportunities on the horizon, including internationally,” Jefferies analyst Andy Barish wrote in a report last March.
Tresvant aims to fuel sales momentum beyond a single quarter at Taco Bell by listening to customers, who he also calls fans, and “letting those insights shape how we innovate and operate.”
“We talk a lot about our magic formula—driving brand buzz, leading with value, creating more moments for people to choose Taco Bell throughout the day, and deepening our digital connection—and that balance has really mattered in a challenging environment,” he said.
Tresvant pointed to digital offerings launched in 2025, such as Fan Style, which allowed customers to customize and share their Taco Bell orders publicly on the mobile app, earn rewards points and possibly land on the chain’s national menu.
In November, Taco Bell chose three customer-designed orders from over 40,000 submissions and made the customized items available to order in the app and at select restaurants.
“In 2025, we executed against our magic formula by being very clear about where to place our bets,” he said. “Value stayed front and center through consistent, accessible offerings that make Taco Bell easy to choose even in a pressured consumer environment.”
Tresvant also has continued Taco Bell’s popular “Live Mas Student Section” that provides students with free student tickets to major college bowl games. During this year’s playoffs, TV cameras often panned to these sections with announcers discussing Taco Bell providing tickets to students.
Specialty Beverages
Another key to Tresvant’s “magic formula” is menu innovation. From Mexican pizza to Doritos Locos Tacos, Taco Bell has made its mark by developing mash-up food items that consumers crave.
2025 was the year of Taco Bell’s newest line of business, the Live Más Café—a store-within-a-store concept serving beverages such as agua frescas and specialty coffees. The company said it surpassed its goal of opening more than 30 locations by the end of December.
The cafés, part of a strategy to capitalize on consumer demand for specialty beverages, opened primarily across Southern California and Texas, including one across the street from the University of California, Irvine, and another in Orange.
“From a menu standpoint, Churro Chillers have quickly become fan favorites,” Tresvant said, adding that the Mountain Dew Baja Blast Dirty Soda has also performed well.
Live Más Cafés are part of Taco Bell’s goal to reach $5 billion in beverage sales by 2030.
According to a food trends study of the four brands under Yum, conducted by Collider Lab, the specialty drinks have taken off. Taco Bell sold over 600 million beverages in 2025 as of Dec. 9, marking a 16% increase from 2024, according to the food trends report.
Chicken Craze
Another touchdown for the fast-food chain has been crispy chicken, added to Taco Bell’s menu for a limited time last year and expected to be a permanent menu option in 2026.
“Since nuggets launched, (in 2024) we’ve sold over 70 million-plus items, and in 2025 alone, crispy chicken has driven 25% new customers year to date,” Tresvant said. “More broadly, chicken sales are up 50% in just two years, which tells us we’re expanding the brand, not just adding another menu item.”
Taco Bell is ranked as Orange County’s largest locally based chain by systemwide sales ending December 2024 of $16.2 billion.
“On menu innovation, we leaned into chicken and beverages in a big way—areas where consumer demand was clear—and built real platforms around them rather than one-off launches,” Tresvant added.
