“This is the Kentucky Fried comeback made real in one restaurant,” KFC U.S. President Catherine Tan-Gillespie told Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n
The restaurant, dubbed Open House, serves as a testing ground for how the 75-year-old fast-food chain<\/a> that Colonel Harland Sanders founded might modernize without abandoning the things that made it famous.<\/p>\n WHY KFC’S FRIED CHICKEN TASTES DIFFERENT FROM THAT OF EVERY OTHER FAST-FOOD CHAIN<\/a><\/p>\n KFC’s challenge isn’t necessarily getting Americans to remember the brand. It’s getting them to think about it when deciding what to eat today.<\/p>\n “There is a massive love for this American icon,” Tan-Gillespie said. But in the U.S., she added, “we tend to be thought about in people’s memories. We’re not actually being considered in eating moments of today.”<\/p>\n KFC’s Open House is a prototype restaurant in McKinney, Texas. (KFC)<\/p>\n That tension between nostalgia and relevance helped shape Open House. In developing the restaurant, KFC started with a question.<\/p>\n “We sat back and said, you know, if the Colonel were building a restaurant<\/a> from scratch today, what would this look like?” Tan-Gillespie said.<\/p>\n AMERICA’S LATE-NIGHT FAST-FOOD CULTURE MAY BE MAKING A COMEBACK \u2014 HERE’S WHY<\/a><\/p>\n The answer incorporates Art Deco and mid-century modern influences alongside large glass windows, digital ordering and drive-thru technology<\/a>. At the same time, the restaurant features lobby hosts, table service, booths and outdoor dining designed to encourage customers to gather.<\/p>\n “For me, the philosophy is that we should be digital where it’s helpful, but human where it matters,” Tan-Gillespie said.<\/p>\n The new restaurant (not pictured) will experiment with expanded hours and breakfast offerings. (Moses Robinson\/Getty Images for KFC)<\/p>\n The menu follows a similar philosophy: Hold onto KFC’s most recognizable products while experimenting with how customers want to eat chicken now, Tan-Gillespie said.<\/p>\n Buckets and the chain’s original recipe remain central, but Open House expands into tenders, wings, sandwiches, wraps and nuggets, along with new sauces, drinks, snacks, sweets and sides.<\/p>\n CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER<\/a><\/p>\n Breakfast<\/a> is part of the experiment, too. Open House is scheduled to operate from 6 a.m. to midnight, giving KFC an opportunity to test breakfast and late-night occasions that traditionally haven’t been a major part of its U.S. business.<\/p>\n KFC’s Open House will still have staples like the chain’s original recipe for fried chicken, but the expanded menu will also include tenders, wings, sandwiches, wraps and nuggets. (Scott Eisen\/Bloomberg via Getty Images)<\/p>\n “We will see if those shoulder day parts work commercially for us and work for the guests, work for our team members,” Tan-Gillespie said. “If they don’t, we’ll cut them back. And if they do, then we can look to scale them nationally.”<\/p>\n “I think the things that should change is making sure that we expand into the ways that customers want to eat fried chicken today.”<\/p>\n KFC also chose McKinney with scalability in mind. Tan-Gillespie described the Dallas-Fort Worth area as a fast-growing and competitive restaurant market, while McKinney provides a mix of existing KFC customers and consumers the chain hopes to attract. The suburban setting also gives KFC a test that could potentially translate to similar markets elsewhere.<\/p>\n CLICK HERE FOR MORE LIFESTYLE NEWS<\/a><\/p>\n But even as KFC experiments with new formats, flavors, technology and dayparts, Tan-Gillespie said some pieces of the brand aren’t up for reinvention.<\/p>\n KFC’s president told Fox News Digital that the new restaurant concept was shaped by the philosophy of Colonel Sanders. (Bob Grannis\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n “Buckets of original recipe fried chicken should not change,” she said. “I think the things that should change is making sure that we expand into the ways that customers want to eat fried chicken today.”<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/kfc-open-house-exterior.jpg\")
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