KFC opens a Texas restaurant to test ideas for reclaiming its fried
chicken crown
[September 25, 2026] By
DEE-ANN DURBIN
KFC has been taking a licking from fried chicken rivals like Raising
Cane's, 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 House’s 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 don’t 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 world's 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.
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Jacob Mitchell carries a tray of food at new KFC restaurant
pre-opening presentation in McKinney, Texas, Tuesday, Sept. 22,
2026. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
 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 Cane’s, Dave’s Hot
Chicken and Wingstop focused on chicken tenders and sauces, making
KFC’s buckets of bone-in chicken look out of date.
McDonald's said this week that it's bringing hand-breaded chicken,
like KFC has long made, to the U.S. and other markets. Even Long
John Silver’s 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, KFC’s 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 aren’t very nice. They’re down at
the heel and grubby. They don’t 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 KFC's
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, KFC’s 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.
“We're 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 it’s going to be an exciting time for KFC,”
Kafarakis said.
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