Saucy by KFC is headed to the Lone Star State about a year and a half after its debut in Florida. The company confirmed that its first location outside of Florida is set to open in Frisco, Texas, later this year.
The concept first opened in Orlando, Fla., in December 2024, and has since expanded to 10 locations in the Sunshine State, with at least five more planned this year. In September, parent company Yum Brands acquired 13 restaurant site leases in Florida for future development, including for Saucy.
The Texas menu will be the same as the current locations in Florida, focused on chicken tenders and 11 signature sauces for customers to mix and match. Saucy also features “sammies,” with tenders served on a King’s Hawaiian roll, crinkle-cut fries, combos, “Chick’itos” and “Grand’itos” (regular and large wraps), rice bowls, salads, and sides like sauced Brussels bites.
Pepsi Drips creations
Saucy also initially featured an 11-beverage lineup — a nod to KFC’s Original Recipe with 11 herbs and spices. This week, it also added Drips by Pepsi, a beverage lineup featuring mix-ins such as fruit syrups, boba, creams, and toppings. Drips beverages leverage the growing demand for dirty sodas, made popular by fast-growing chain Swig and since embraced by chains such as Taco Bell, Texas Roadhouse, Denny’s, Sonic Drive-In, and McDonald’s now-shuttered CosMc’s concept.
Saucy’s menu includes exclusive creations such as a Mountain Dew Chill Chill (Mountain Dew and Tropicana Lemonade, pineapple, jalapeño, and mint, finished with Tajín), Pepsi Zero Sugar Salted Caramel Fizz (Pepsi Zero Sugar, salted caramel, and chocolate topped with caramel cold foam), Tropicana Rainbow Splash Lemonade (Tropicana Lemonade and Starry, passionfruit, and pineapple, over blue raspberry popping boba), PynkRaze Pop (Tropicana Lemonade and Starry, passionfruit, and pineapple, over dragon fruit popping boba, and Tropical Energy Escape (orange pineapple energy blend with passionfruit and blackberry, layered with coconut water and coconut cream).
Saucy was designed to be a “flavor-forward dining destination” focused on chicken tenders and sauces. Unlike much of the KFC system, however, Saucy is a 100% equity concept fully funded by parent company Yum Brands.
Last year, former Yum chief executive officer David Gibbs said Saucy is one of the catalysts for KFC’s turnaround.
“We’re going to expand that test pretty dramatically this year to try and get a better read on how that solution would play for the KFC U.S. long-term business,” he said in February 2025. “We will read into how our customers and team members use the brand and polish it while scaling.
“The plan is to grow more stores to understand the concept.”
Contact Alicia Kelso at [email protected]
Follow her on TikTok: @aliciakelso