KFC has been taking a licking from fried chicken rivals like Raising Canes, but the global fast-food chain has a plan to return to the top of the U.S. pecking order.

The Kentucky-born brand opened a new restaurant in McKinney, Texas, on Thursday to serve as a test lab in its home market. Called Open House, it serves breakfast a U.S. first for KFC and stays open late. The menu will feature new drinks like boba-filled refreshers and crunchy-topped milkshakes , an expanded lineup of tenders and sauces, and new side dishes like fried green beans and spicy pickles.

The restaurant has double drive-thru lanes and a mobile order pickup station. But KFC designed it to encourage customers to stay a while. After ordering at a digital kiosk, they can sit and wait for employees to bring the food to their table. There is also a photo booth and a counter selling branded merch.

KFC did not say how much of Open Houses design or menu will eventually reach the rest of its 3,424 U.S. restaurants. The new beverages are likely to spread more widely; the company already introduced a similar drink menu in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Turkey and other markets.

KFC is trying to make fast food more of an experience

The Texas concept and gleaming, multi-story flagships set to open in Dubai, Seoul and London show KFC is trying to make grabbing fast food more of an experience.

People dont remember what they eat, but they remember how they were feeling when they were eating, KFC Chief Concept Officer Christophe Poirier, who leads new restaurant design, said.

Poirier said KFC is automating tasks like ordering so employees can focus on hospitality. Ideally, KFC will function more like an Apple Store or a luxury retailer, he said, without the stressful lines or grumpy cashiers that plague the fast-food industry.

You leave the retailer and say, Wow. The product is amazing, but beyond that the service was amazing. For 10 or 15 minutes I was feeling like a king, he said.

Kentucky-born brand is thriving abroad but its US sales are down

KFC was the pioneer of fast-food fried chicken. The brand got its start in 1930, when Harland Sanders bought a roadside motel in Corbin, Kentucky, and started serving fried chicken to travelers. In 1952, the first Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise opened in Utah.

Now owned by Louisville, Kentucky-based Yum Brands, KFC has grown into one of the worlds largest fast-food chains. As of June, the brand counted more than 34,000 restaurants in over 150 countries . A new branch opens somewhere in the world every 3 1/2 hours, according to Poirier.

Sales are strong in international markets. China alone accounts for almost 40% of KFC restaurants worldwide. But U.S. sales have faltered as fast-growing competitors raced to meet rising demand for chicken from American consumers seeking leaner sources of protein.

Chick-fil-A and Popeyes began expanding rapidly in the 2010s; both brands now have nearly as many U.S. locations as KFC. Newer chains like Raising Canes, Daves Hot Chicken and Wingstop focused on chicken tenders and sauces, making KFCs buckets of bone-in chicken look out of date.

McDonalds said this week that its bringing hand-breaded chicken, like KFC has long made, to the U.S. and other markets. Even Long John Silvers recently added fried chicken wings to its menu.

In 2015, KFC commanded a 20% share of the $21.8 billion in U.S. chicken-chain sales, according to Technomic, a restaurant market research company. By 2025, KFCs share had fallen to 8%, even as sales at chicken chains more than doubled to $57.7 billion.

KFC wants to attract younger customers without losing older ones

Younger diners see the brand as old and tired, said Neil Saunders, a managing director with the market research company GlobalData.

Some of their locations honestly arent very nice. Theyre down at the heel and grubby. They dont feel contemporary, Saunders said.

KFC has pursued a turnaround for a while, shedding underperforming U.S. locations even as it expanded overseas. Since the beginning of 2022, 529 KFC restaurants in the U.S. have closed, according to company filings.

The brand has also experimented with its menu. Work to develop KFCs portfolio of 20 sauces and improve its chicken tenders advanced at a small concept store in Florida called Saucy by KFC, which opened in 2024, said Dhiren Karnani, KFCs global head of food and experience. Beverages became a focus after research indicated that younger consumers often decide where to eat based on drink selections, he said.

Karnani said KFC had to ensure menu changes fit the brand and elevate its chicken, which still uses Sanders original recipe . KFC wants to respond to consumer demand for more beverages and tenders, he said, but will still serve bone-in chicken and sides like gravy.

Were just providing more choices and more ways a consumer can enjoy KFC, rather than saying goodbye to the past as we look into the future, he said. Because who are we if not really for our heritage? I think we celebrate it.

Phil Kafarakis, the CEO of IFMA The Food Away from Home Association, which represents restaurant suppliers and manufacturers, said KFC struggled to get attention from Yum Brands while the parent company dealt with problems at Pizza Hut . Yum, which also owns Taco Bell, sold Pizza Hut for $2.7 billion earlier this year.

I personally think its going to be an exciting time for KFC, Kafarakis said.

肯德基一直受到如 Raising Cane's 等炸鸡竞争对手的打击，但这家全球快餐连锁店已制定计划，旨在重返美国市场的主导地位。

这家源自肯塔基州的品牌于周四在得克萨斯州麦金尼市开了一家新餐厅，作为其本土市场的试验店。这家名为 "Open House" 的餐厅供应早餐——这是肯德基在美国的首次尝试——并营业至深夜。菜单上将推出新品饮料，如含波霸的果味饮品和顶部撒有脆片的奶昔，同时扩充了鸡柳和酱料的种类，并新增了炸青豆、辣泡菜等配菜。

这家餐厅设有双车道得来速（drive-thru）和手机订单取餐站。但肯德基的设计初衷是鼓励顾客多停留片刻。顾客在数字自助点餐机下单后，可以坐下来等待员工将餐品送到桌前。店内还设有拍照亭和一个出售品牌周边的柜台。

肯德基并未透露 Open House 的设计或菜单最终会在多大程度上推广至其在美国的其余 3424 家门店。新饮品很可能得到更广泛的推广；该公司已在英国、加拿大、澳大利亚、土耳其及其他市场推出了类似的饮品菜单。

肯德基正试图让快餐成为一种更丰富的体验。

得克萨斯州的概念店以及即将在迪拜、首尔和伦敦开业的璀璨夺目的多层旗舰店表明，肯德基正试图让吃快餐变成一种更具体的体验。

" 人们不记得自己吃了什么，但会记得用餐时的心情，" 肯德基首席概念官、负责新餐厅设计的克里斯托夫 · 波里耶说道。

普瓦里耶表示，肯德基正在将点餐等任务自动化，以便员工能专注于顾客服务。他说，理想情况下，肯德基的运营模式将更接近苹果零售店或奢侈品牌门店，不再有困扰快餐行业的紧张排队队伍或态度不佳的收银员。

他说道：" 你离开那家零售商时，会感叹：‘哇，产品令人惊叹，但更令人惊叹的是服务。在那 10 到 15 分钟里，我感觉自己像国王一样。’ "

肯塔基州诞生的品牌在海外蓬勃发展，但其美国本土销售额却有所下滑。

肯德基是快餐炸鸡的先驱。该品牌始于 1930 年，当时哈兰 · 桑德斯在肯塔基州科尔宾买下了一家路边汽车旅馆，开始向旅客供应炸鸡。1952 年，第一家肯德基特许经营店在犹他州开业。

如今，肯德基隶属于总部位于肯塔基州路易斯维尔的百胜餐饮集团，已发展成为全球最大的快餐连锁品牌之一。截至今年 6 月，该品牌在全球 150 多个国家拥有超过 34000 家餐厅。据波里尔介绍，全球平均每三个半小时就有一家新的肯德基门店开业。

国际市场销售势头强劲，仅中国就占肯德基全球门店的近 40%。然而，在美国市场，由于快速扩张的竞争对手争相满足美国消费者对鸡肉日益增长的需求——他们正寻求更瘦的蛋白质来源——肯德基的销售却有所下滑。

福乐鸡和派派思在 2010 年代开始迅速扩张；如今，这两个品牌在美国的门店数量已接近肯德基。像 Raising Cane's、Dave's Hot Chicken 和 Wingstop 这样的新兴连锁品牌专注于鸡柳和酱料，使得肯德基的带骨鸡块桶显得过时了。

麦当劳本周表示，将把手工裹粉炸鸡（类似肯德基长期以来制作的那种）引入美国及其他市场。就连长约翰 · 西尔弗斯最近也在其菜单上增加了炸鸡翅。

据餐饮市场研究公司 Technomic 的数据，2015 年，肯德基在美国鸡肉连锁店销售额（218 亿美元）中占据了 20% 的份额。到 2025 年，尽管鸡肉连锁店的总销售额翻了一倍多，达到 577 亿美元，但肯德基的份额却下降至 8%。

肯德基希望在吸引年轻顾客的同时，不失去年长顾客。

市场研究公司 GlobalData 的董事总经理尼尔 · 桑德斯表示，年轻食客认为该品牌已经过时且缺乏活力。

桑德斯表示：" 说实话，他们的一些门店环境并不太好，破旧不堪，脏兮兮的，感觉不够现代。"

肯德基一直在寻求业务转型，一方面关闭美国表现不佳的门店，另一方面则继续拓展海外市场。根据公司提交的文件，自 2022 年初以来，美国已有 529 家肯德基餐厅关闭。

该品牌还在菜单上进行了尝试。肯德基全球食品与体验主管迪伦 · 卡尔纳尼表示，开发肯德基 20 种酱料组合以及改进鸡柳的工作，已在佛罗里达州一家名为 "Saucy by KFC" 的小型概念店中取得进展，该店于 2024 年开业。他还提到，研究显示年轻消费者往往根据饮品选择来决定用餐地点，因此饮品成为关注重点。

卡纳尼表示，肯德基必须确保菜单调整符合品牌定位，并突出其鸡肉产品——这些鸡肉仍沿用桑德斯的原始配方。他说，肯德基希望响应消费者对更多饮品和鸡柳的需求，但依然会供应带骨鸡肉以及肉汁等配菜。

他表示：" 我们只是在为消费者提供更多选择，让他们以更多方式享受肯德基，而不是在展望未来时告别过去。因为如果不真正珍视我们的传统，我们又是谁呢？我认为我们应当庆祝这份传承。"

菲尔 · 卡法拉基斯是国际餐饮服务供应商协会（IFMA）的首席执行官，该协会代表餐饮供应商和制造商。他表示，在母公司百胜餐饮集团忙于处理必胜客的问题时，肯德基难以获得集团的关注。百胜集团旗下还拥有塔可钟，今年早些时候，百胜以 27 亿美元的价格出售了必胜客。

" 我个人认为，这对肯德基来说将是一个激动人心的时刻，" 卡法拉基斯表示。