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 chain inaugurated a new restaurant in McKinney, Texas, on Thursday, intended to function as a test lab within its home market.

Named Open House, it offers breakfast — a first for KFC in the United States — and remains open until late.

The menu is set to showcase novel beverages such as boba-filled refreshers and milkshakes topped with crunchy garnishes, an expanded selection of tenders and sauces, and new side dishes including fried green beans and spicy pickles.

The restaurant features dual drive-thru lanes alongside a mobile order pickup station, yet KFC conceived it in such a way as to encourage patrons to linger.

Having placed their order at a digital kiosk, they are able to sit and await employees bringing the food to their table.

A photo booth is also on hand, as is a counter retailing branded merchandise.

KFC declined to specify what proportion of Open House’s design or menu will ultimately be rolled out across its remaining 3,424 U.S. outlets.

The new beverages, however, are liable to proliferate more extensively; the company has already launched a comparable drink menu in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Turkey and other markets.

The Texas concept, together with gleaming, multi-story flagships set to open in Dubai, Seoul and London, shows that KFC is trying to turn grabbing fast food into more of an experience.

"What lingers in people's memories is not the food itself, but rather the emotions they experienced while dining," remarked Christophe Poirier, KFC's Chief Concept Officer, who spearheads the chain's new restaurant design.

Poirier stated that KFC is automating tasks such as ordering so that employees can concentrate on hospitality.

Ideally, he said, KFC will operate more in the manner of an Apple Store or a luxury retailer, free from the stressful queues or surly cashiers that afflict the fast-food industry.

"You exit the retailer and exclaim, 'Wow. The product is remarkable, but beyond that, the service was extraordinary. For 10 or 15 minutes I felt like a king,'" he said.

KFC was the pioneer of fast-food fried chicken.

The brand had its origins in 1930, when Harland Sanders purchased a roadside motel in Corbin, Kentucky, and commenced serving fried chicken to travelers.

In 1952, the inaugural Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise was established in Utah.

Presently under the ownership of Louisville, Kentucky-based Yum Brands, KFC has evolved into one of the largest fast-food chains globally.

As of June, the brand boasted upwards of 34,000 restaurants across more than 150 countries.

According to Poirier, a new outlet opens somewhere in the world every 3 1/2 hours.

International sales remain robust, with China alone representing nearly 40% of KFC's global restaurant footprint.

In the United States, however, sales have languished, as rapidly expanding rivals scrambled to satisfy mounting demand among American consumers increasingly in search of leaner protein sources.

Throughout the 2010s, Chick-fil-A and Popeyes embarked on a period of rapid expansion; both brands now operate nearly as many U.S. locations as KFC.

Emerging chains such as Raising Cane’s, Dave’s Hot Chicken and Wingstop, with their emphasis on chicken tenders and sauces, have rendered KFC’s buckets of bone-in chicken seemingly obsolete.

McDonald’s announced this week that it is introducing hand-breaded chicken—a product KFC has long offered—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.

According to Neil Saunders, a managing director at the market research firm GlobalData, younger diners perceive the brand as outdated and stale.

"Some of their locations are, frankly, far from appealing.

They are dilapidated and squalid.

They don't feel contemporary," Saunders said.

KFC has long been engaged in a turnaround effort, divesting itself of underperforming U.S. locations even as it pursued expansion abroad.

According to company filings, 529 KFC restaurants across the United States have shuttered since the outset of 2022.

The brand has likewise ventured into menu innovation.

Efforts to cultivate KFC’s portfolio of 20 sauces and to refine its chicken tenders were progressed at a small concept store in Florida named Saucy by KFC, which launched in 2024, according to Dhiren Karnani, KFC’s global head of food and experience.

Beverages emerged as a priority once research suggested that younger consumers frequently base their dining choices on drink offerings, he said.

Karnani remarked that KFC needed to guarantee that modifications to its menu aligned with the brand and enhanced its chicken, which continues to be prepared using Sanders’ original recipe.

According to him, KFC aims to cater to consumer demand for a greater variety of beverages and tenders, yet it will continue to offer bone-in chicken along with sides such as gravy.

“We’re simply offering more choices and more ways a consumer can enjoy KFC, rather than saying goodbye to the past as we look to the future,” he said.

“Because who are we if not really for our heritage?

I think we celebrate it.”

Phil Kafarakis, chief executive of IFMA The Food Away from Home Association, which represents restaurant suppliers and manufacturers, said that KFC had struggled to attract attention from Yum Brands while the parent company was dealing with problems at Pizza Hut.

Yum, which also owns Taco Bell, sold Pizza Hut for $2.7 billion earlier this year.

"I personally believe it will prove to be an exhilarating period for KFC," Kafarakis remarked.