KFC (YUM) is ditching the red-white-and-plastic look in the U.K. Starting in 2015, British restaurants in the global fast-food chicken chain will roll out a new design that seems to owe less to the familiar colonel mascot and more to trendier-looking chains such as Chipotle Mexican Gerill (CMG) or Starbucks (SBUX).
It’s a significant departure from brand’s signature look, even if the colonel and the KFC logo will still appear on the store exteriors. “I want to people to reappraise KFC,” says Paula MacKenzie, chief finance and development officer for KFC in the U.K. According to Technomic, KFC’s British sales totaled about £684.5 million ($1.07 billion) in 2013.
The new design is referred to internally as K2, with the first letter hinting at the kitchen aesthetic that inspired the look. KFC recently unveiled its first reimaged U.K. restaurant in the town of Bracknell. K2, which isn’t coming to the U.S., is an update on the previous K1 design launched two years ago. “It’s a bit like iPhones. What’s the next one?,” says MacKenzie. Whenever the next update to this kitchen design concept rolls out, it will likely be called K3.
While remodeling fast-food restaurants is a significant investment, it can pay off. “A great remodel sees a sales uplift,” says MacKenzie. Burger King (BKW), for instance, has said remodeling can lift sales at its restaurants by 10 percent or more. ”Every restaurant, every store, every retailer has had to up their game in design,” says MacKenzie. Quick-service restaurants have “come late to the party.”
Developed with the design agency R&R, KFC’s K2 design has a part-modern, part-artisanal feel with brick panels, copper lighting fixtures, and illustrations and handwritten signs by artists. There’s a variety of seating, including butcher block tables, and the chairs and stools are not bolted down. The exposed ceilings showcase air conditioning ducts behind wood slats.
KFC had already abandoned the bright red and orange colors that dominated in KFC’s former “Rendezvous” design, which was basically the British version of a design in the U.S. that was hilariously named “Bucket of Attitude.” Overuse of the brand’s iconic red can feel “shouty,” MacKenzie says. The new look is “cool, contemporary. Not like, ‘Oh my god, it’s red everywhere.’”
This new iteration brings back some red—K1 was heavy on gray, which made the restaurants feel cold—as accents on door handles and chair legs, and bumps up the warm colors on the wood tabletops. K2 also adds texture to surfaces—for instance, through brick walls—as K1 focused on smooth, clean lines.
KFC stores are remodeled about every five years, says Bracknell, so another look could arrive before this one makes its way through KFC’s 870 U.K. restaurants.
(Bloomberg Businessweek)
