Restaurant Franchising & Innovation Summit
Speaker Spotlight: Jay Jhun, senior director, loyalty and digital, Church's Texas Chicken
Jay Jhun, senior director, loyalty and digital, at Church's Texas Chicken, shares insight on his career, achievements and industry trends ahead of his appearance at the Restaurant Franchising & Innovation Summit 2026.
March 5, 2026 by Judy Mottl — Editor, RetailCustomerExperience.com & DigitalSignageToday.com
ChatGPT
Grok
Perplexity
ClaudeToday we're shining a spotlight on Jay Jhun, senior director, loyalty and digital, at Church's Texas Chicken.
Jhun is a panelist for the "Grinding Your Franchise into Omnichannel Overdrive," session at the upcoming Restaurant Franchising & Innovation Summit, which takes place March 16-18, 2026, in San Diego, California.
The session will focus on embracing the digital mechanics to take the customer experience to another level.
We thought it would be fun to get to know Jhun a bit better ahead of his participating at RFIS. Register here.
Describe your current role
I currently serve as senior director, digital and loyalty, helping lead a team that is responsible for our digital owned media and loyalty which includes our first-party online ordering for web and mobile apps, Church's Real Rewards and our CRM channels (email, SMS and push notifications).
What was your first-ever career role and what is one important lesson you learned from it?
While it won't show up on my LinkedIn profile, my first job was making sandwiches and rolling burritos at an on-campus restaurant in college. I learned through hard work and long hours that the little details can make a difference in the final product.
What inspired you to work in your industry?
While I wouldn't necessarily call it inspiration, my love for food, coupled with my passion for digital customer experiences, are both big components of my current role.
What do you enjoy most about your current role?
What I enjoy the most about my current role is the opportunity to deliver meaningful value and experiences for our guests while also making a positive impact for the business with a lean team that never hesitates to roll up our sleeves.
What's a common misconception people have about what you do?
That I actually make the fried chicken.
What is one career achievement you're most proud of?
Last year I had the honor of representing our team and brand at the Loyalty360 Awards, where I had to present and make a 'pitch' to peers. We also were recognized for the work we have done on our Real Rewards loyalty program and we brought home three trophies, one of which was in the best of show. There were several household brands and solid programs represented, and it was a huge affirmation of the work our team had done.
Who is/was your mentor and what's one important lesson you learned from them?
Evy Schiffman was a great mentor and one of the first people I worked for who was not a member of my family. She entrusted me with (in hindsight) a crazy amount of work as a 20-something that allowed me to learn and grow, all without lording anything over me. She taught with a healthy perspective that mistakes happen, but you learn from them and keep going.
What industry trends do you think are currently over-hyped and why?
Some aspects of AI don't sit well with me because of the lack of scrutiny on how these tools source their information. I also believe we risk losing some of our humanity and our own ability to think for ourselves if we let machines do too much for us.
What industry trends do you think don't get enough attention and why?
I would really like to see AI applications focus more on restaurant operations, like 'easy buttons' or AI assistants that busy restaurant managers can use to save time. For example, we recently launched a chatbot powered by an LLM that allows us to support our guests at scale, but our partners didn't have APIs readily available to support that type of application. Or, especially for loyalty program operators, applying AI to detect and stop fraud.
What advice would you give to someone just starting out in your industry?
For anyone aspiring to work in digital marketing in the restaurant industry, do as much as you can to understand what is valuable to your guests and build strong partnerships across the organization, especially IT and operations. It's important to remember that the work you want to do cannot be done in isolation.
If you weren't working in your current field, what would you be doing instead?
If I had been gifted with 20/20 vision, I'd want to be an airline pilot.
Is there anything else you would like to tell people about yourself or your company/organization?
If you love fried chicken, don't sleep on Church's. It delivers on flavor and quality every time.
About Judy Mottl
Related Media
Subscribe
Get the latest news and resources from Pizza Marketplace.
Recent Posts
