Manuel Zamudio arrived in Spain in 2011, in the middle of a brutal financial crisis, with a plan that almost everyone called crazy: relaunch KFC in a country obsessed with its own food culture. A decade later, KFC has surpassed Telepizza to become the third-largest QSR brand in Spain — and Manuel went on to do something even bigger. He brought Krispy Kreme to Madrid.

In this conversation — recorded live at the flagship Krispy Kreme in Madrid, the first outside broadcast for The Free Lunch — Eddie sits down with Manuel to unpack the journey from mechanical engineer in Mexico City, to running brands at P&G, to leading KFC across Spain and Portugal at Yum Brands, to becoming a franchisee, to closing the joint venture that finally brought Krispy Kreme to Spain in 2024.

The launch broke records. 26,000 free half-dozens given away across Madrid. People queuing 20 hours before the doors opened. Golden tickets handing out free boxes for a year. And one detail that makes Krispy Kreme Spain unique in the world: it's the only Krispy Kreme on the planet without the word "DONUTS" on the logo. There's a legal reason — and it's a great story.

But the deeper conversation is about how you actually build something that lasts. Manuel shares why he believes "companies are not a family," the four values he runs every business by, why he uses the medieval wall of Ávila as a metaphor for company culture, and the rule that keeps his marriage healthy while he and his wife both work in the business.

In this episode:

— Why he bet on Spain during one of its worst economic crises

— The real reason Krispy Kreme can't say "donut" in Spain

— How they engineered the most-talked-about brand launch in Madrid

— Why companies should never call themselves "a family"

— The four values: integrity, determination, positivity, generosity

— What it takes to work alongside your spouse (and why she doesn't report to him)

— Why brands outlast people — and the responsibility that comes with that

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 — Intro

02:00 — Cold open: companies aren't families

04:00 — Live from Krispy Kreme Madrid

05:00 — From mechanical engineer to brand manager

06:20 — The P&G years: marketing as a business school

14:00 — Moving to Yum Brands and arriving in Spain

28:30 — Launching KFC during Spain's financial crisis

31:40 — How KFC overtook Telepizza

34:00 — Becoming a franchisee and the road to Krispy Kreme

36:30 — Why you can't say "donuts" in Spain

40:00 — Fresh every day: the Krispy Kreme promise

42:00 — Inside the launch that broke records

57:00 — Building culture: the Ávila wall metaphor

1:01:30 — The four values

1:05:20 — Why companies are NOT a family

1:09:00 — Working with your spouse: the rules

1:14:30 — Brands outlast people

ABOUT THE GUEST

Manuel Zamudio is the CEO of Krispy Kreme Spain and co-founder of Cárdenas Investment, the operating group behind KFC Spain (where he served as Regional General Manager for Spain & Portugal before becoming a franchisee in 2017), Sano, and Krispy Kreme Spain (launched 2024 as a joint venture with the brand). Born in Ecuador, Mexican by nationality, based in Madrid since 2011.