News
KFC marks 75th anniversary with redesign
KFC's owner, YUM! Brands, announced it has tapped FRCH Design Worldwide to give the brand's locations a modern look to celebrate KFC's 75th anniversary.
January 26, 2016
KFC's owner, YUM! Brands, announced it has tapped FRCH Design Worldwide to give the brand's locations a modern look to celebrate KFC's 75th anniversary by capturing its vintage flavor while marking a departure from the chain's early decor, modeled on Sanders' first restaurant, which opened in 1952, according to a company press release.
At the core of the retail brand refresh was translating the Colonel's personality for a new customer. Known for his gregarious, entrepreneurial spirit, Sanders tried his hand as a farmhand, army mule-tender, locomotive fireman, aspiring lawyer, insurance salesman, amateur obstetrician, political candidate and ferryboat entrepreneur, among others, before finding success in the fried chicken business, the release stated.
FRCH has a multi-year revitalization strategy to refresh 70 percent of the brand's 4,500 retail stores by the end of 2017. Since the first new store design tested in 2014, sales have risen 3 percent. In an effort to challenge a growing number of competitors, KFC invested $185 million in domestic franchised KFC stores beginning in 2015.
FRCH's new store design places the colonel's iconic image prominently on the restaurant's exterior. Graphics in red and white evoke the Colonel's memorable white suit while alluding to striped tents, suggesting his remarkable instinct for showmanship. An elevated roof-line is illuminated at night.
"We saw the chance to highlight Sanders' playfulness and outsized personality along with the brand's traditional focus on hospitality," commented Paul Lechleiter, chief creative officer at FRCH. "The codes of Southern hospitality are an unwritten and subtle set of rules that highlight generosity of spirit and gratitude. We aimed to amp up those codes in a thoughtful, quintessentially Southern way - where even the littlest things count in big ways. We played a lot with developing a vocabulary around scale in relation to the brand heritage, which led us to exaggerate the KFC brand colors, then soften the image with rustic red shutters to add a welcoming effect."
The interior features family-style seating called the 'Colonel's table', an oversized rustic table set for flex seating. To foster a more meaningful relationship between the customers and brand, a photo wall showcases the Colonel's legacy as one of the South's original "celebrity chefs."
A prominent chalkboard will be updated daily, by hand, with the name of the farm that raised that day's meal.
YUM! Brands is the world's largest restaurant company, with more than 41,000 restaurants in more than 125 countries and territories. KFC has more than 14,300 restaurants in more than 115 countries, excluding the Yum! China and India divisions.
