It is lunchtime in Louisville, Kentucky and David Novak, chief executive of Yum Brands, strolls up to the KFC in his company’s cafeteria, orders a grilled chicken sandwich and joins a couple of employees for a bite to eat.

Mr Novak has a lot on his plate these days. Yum, which operates KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, is continuing its push to be the dominant foreign restaurant chain in China while trying to revive a struggling business in the US. In spite of its international aspirations, Yum maintains a rich sense of its history.

Unlike many corporate campuses, which sequester themselves in suburban fortresses, Yum is housed in a sprawling colonial-style complex that resembles – and is referred to as – the “White House”. Inside the main entrance sits a museum, where a talking mechanical replica of Colonel Sanders, the founder of KFC whose face is immortalised in its logo, introduces guests to the company.