Shanghai — Diners at a KFC store in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou will soon have a new way to pay for their meal: just smile. Customers will be able to use a "Smile to Pay" facial recognition system at the tech-heavy, health-focused concept store, part of a drive by Yum China Holdings to lure a younger generation of consumers. Yum China, which spun off from its US parent Yum Brands last year, is trying to rev up growth in the world’s second largest economy, where food safety scares and changing consumer tastes have dented sales since 2012. Yum is still the largest fast food chain in the market, where it has more than 7,685 outlets. Its China same-store sales have also been slowly improving, rising in the second quarter of the year on a strong showing by its KFC brand. The new outlet in Hangzhou, called KPRO, is targeting a younger generation of Chinese who are expected to drive the lion’s share of China’s consumption growth over the next decade. Joey Wat, Yum China’s presiden...
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