Held at the Celtic Manor resort near Newport, South Wales, the conference costs £500,000 to organise, and is the only time of the year when managers from all of KFC’s 850 UK restaurants, along with franchisees and senior management, are in the same place.

It typically focuses on operational improvements, or issues such as speed and customer service. However, this year, to recognise and celebrate the contribution of the RGMs and the role they play in the business, KFC focused entirely on them and their teams.

The conference was heavily driven by video content and case studies, and focused on KFC’s people programme, which includes learning and development, wellbeing, KFC’s partnership to provide work experience to young adults in Barnardo’s projects, the company’s famous recognition culture, and its fundraising work with the United Nations’ World Food Programme.

James Watts, vice president HR and chief people officer, KFC UK & Ireland, said: “Our managers are the most important part of our company. They run million-pound businesses and make a difference in so many people’s lives, so it’s so important to engage them with all the work we’re doing for them and their teams at KFC. We’ve had great buy-in from everyone at the conference, and we’re really excited about our prospects for the year.”

Last year the business was voted as one of Britain’s top employers and was the first restaurant company in the UK to launch an honours degree – a BA (Hons) Business Management course in conjunction with De Montfort University in Leicester.