Built by experience

When Rodrigo Martinez (MBA ‘11) started a restaurant job at about 15 years old, he didn’t envision that it would be a long-term career path. It was just, as he described, “a means to an end.”

Looking back on his career, though, his early restaurant experience set the foundation for his career leading operations for more than 2,200 KFC locations across 39 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Having once been in the position of the people he now leads in his role as Chief Operating, Quality Assurance and Technologies Officer was among the best experiences that built him into the leader he is today. 

“I’ve been on the other side of [restaurant work],” he said. “I can remember when people from corporate would visit, and some of the leaders wouldn’t even acknowledge us. Those that did, though, I remember them fondly. Now that I’m in [a leadership] position, I want to be the person who leaves the restaurant and its people better than I found it.”

Finding his path

Before Martinez found his passion for operations at KFC, he worked in several different kinds of jobs, from helping with his father’s chemical distribution business to trading stocks at an investment bank after earning his degree in finance from Tecnológico de Monterrey in his home country of Mexico. While he deeply enjoyed finance, being a trader wasn’t all he wanted. 

Martinez decided to look closer at what he really enjoyed in order to find a better path. With strategy, marketing and leadership the focus of his areas of growth, he knew that a business role was what he wanted to pursue. 

After working in a consulting role for a few years, he was encouraged to consider an MBA in order to further develop his business skills. While he toured a lot of different campuses across the country, from Michigan to New York, only the University of Florida Warrington College of Business offered the right combination of strong reputation, great professors and fit for what he wanted to achieve in his career. 

“Ultimately, after looking at different schools, UF was the place that offered exactly what I had read about, and everything it said it was was true,” he said. 

With his MBA, Martinez was able to connect his experience in restaurants, finance and consulting while giving him the confidence to pursue larger leadership opportunities. 

Out of the MBA program, he served in operations and development for Burger King’s Latin American locations and later moved to Dunkin’ Brands where he led learning, new-market  entries and turnaround of underperforming markets. 

Building a career

Even after serving in operations roles at KFC for 10 years now, Martinez is still excited about what new challenge each day will bring. 

“Operations is where strategy becomes every day reality,” he said. “Every day is different and you’re solving real problems. You can see the impact of your work quickly, and it’s very tangible.”

The best part of his job, though, is helping restaurant managers and employees grow. 

“I like to see myself as the producer and they’re the talent,” he said. “Really what I want to help them with is building systems and processes that remove friction and allow them to shine and be their best with customers.”

Leading across markets

While helping talented employees perform to the best of their abilities could be particularly challenging when overseeing restaurants in almost 40 different countries, Martinez has found a simple solution – listen first. 

“I have to be humble enough to know that franchisees know their area much better than I do,” he said. “It’s about listening and understanding the local reality before making any decisions, and balancing those decisions with the global brand.”

What could be a good option for the restaurants in Mexico could look very different for those in Peru, Martinez explained. While consistency is important for the global brand’s success, how that plays out on the menu can vary based on the country. 

For example, if you were ordering from KFC in Mexico, it would look fairly similar to what you’d find in the United States, as the countries are close neighbors. Making your way further south, though, you’ll find items like empanadas, rice and beans and fried plantains have replaced mashed potatoes and French fries as side items. 

“Consistency doesn’t mean that you have to do everything the same way in every place,” he said. “Consistency is delivering the same promise to your team and customers, things like safe food and great experience. How each country interprets that can be different, but it’s got to be the same safe, great quality ingredients and exceptional service.”

Putting people first

That approach is at the heart of Martinez’s “experience-first operations” philosophy. 

When evaluating a new idea, he uses three filters, he explained. First and second are always that it maintains safety and food quality, which are deal breakers for any potential idea. Beyond that, it must improve team member or guest experience. 

“It could be an idea that saves millions or dollars or makes us millions of dollars,” he said. “If it doesn’t do these things, then we have to reevaluate. I’ve seen a lot of professionals lose sight of that [way of thinking]. Profit over safety, quality or experience isn’t how to evaluate solutions.”

His philosophy extends to people development, which he considers essential to sustainable operations. 

Martinez spends a significant amount of time working on-site with restaurant managers and employees to understand how to make the experience better for the team and customers.

One of his favorite successes illustrates how this approach to operations and people development come together. At the time, KFC was experiencing low taste scores for some of its products. Martinez’s manager gave him creative license to come up with a solution, which he gladly accepted. 

An avid boxer and practitioner of Muay Thai, Martinez sent out a challenge to cooks in his region’s restaurants – if you can beat me in a chicken cooking competition, you’ll earn a champion boxing belt. 

Prior to each competition, Martinez sent out updated training materials and ingredients to help his competition prepare, which they embraced, looking forward to beating the boss.

The unusual solution not only helped the company improve its taste scores, it spurred other KFC regions to try a similar approach, even being copied by some KFC competitors. 

“People still bring it up to me to this day,” he said. “And taste scores have stayed high, years after the initial competition.”

Ideas like this helped win Martinez KFC’s COO of the Year Award in 2026 at the company’s Global Summit in South Africa.

“It was an amazing experience and a meaningful recognition of the creativity, resilience, resourcefulness, and growth mindset of my team, my boss, my franchisees, and their teams across Latin America and the Caribbean,” he said of the award.

Lessons in leadership

For young professionals interested in operations leadership, Martinez offers three main pieces of advice. First, spend time in the field. 

“Talk to customers. Talk to team members,” he said. “Behind every KPI there are people. Humanize your decisions and think about being the voice of the team members and guests.”

Second, serve your team. 

“Especially in hospitality, the best leaders are the ones who are leaning into serving others,” he said. “Be the mentor that you want to have.”

Last, stay curious, advice which stemmed from his time at UF. 

“You can never assume that you know everything,” he said. “You need to learn, unlearn and then learn again. I came to UF thinking that I needed to have all of the answers, but I realized on day one that the people who learn the most during their time in the program are the ones that are asking the best questions, not giving the best answers.”

A starting point, not a destination

Outside of work, beyond his boxing and Muay Thai practice, Martinez enjoys painting, playing the electric guitar and cooking. An avid traveler, Martinez has visited 85 countries, with a personal goal of traveling to 100 in his lifetime, alongside his wife, Magda. The two are planning their next trip to check Japan off of the list next spring. 

For Martinez, though, perhaps the most important part of his journey is what he can pass on to others. 

As someone who came to UF as an international student, he understands the uncertainty that can come with a new environment. His own path, from teenage restaurant worker to global operations leader, has taught him that where you start doesn’t determine where you can go. 

“Your starting point doesn’t define your future,” he said.