KFC has introduced Open House, a new restaurant format designed to serve as an innovation incubator for the brand's culinary, operational, and customer service models.
Located at 8751 El Dorado Parkway in McKinney, Texas, the 3,400-square-foot site officially opens on 26 September, supported by a community grand opening on 27 September. The concept consolidates menu adaptations, new dayparts, and technology-assisted service models into a single operational footprint, evaluating consumer response before potential broader deployment across the chain's domestic estate.
"Open House brings the Kentucky Fried Comeback to life in one restaurant," said Catherine Tan-Gillespie, President of KFC US. "We're building on the craveable fried chicken and genuine hospitality people have always loved about KFC, while introducing new flavours, new experiences and more ways to enjoy the brand. It gives guests a reason to try us, or try us again, while giving us a real restaurant where we can learn what works for guests, our teams and the business, and scale the strongest ideas across the system."
Daypart Expansion and Beverage Innovation
The Open House menu broadens the brand's daytime coverage, introducing dedicated morning service alongside an expanded beverage programme developed under KFC's international drinks strategy.
The restaurant debuts a full breakfast lineup, marking an operational shift into morning dining for the US brand:
🍳 Breakfast Sandwiches: Handheld morning sandwiches incorporating fried chicken cuts and classic breakfast ingredients.
🍗 Original Recipe Morning Tenders: Portion-controlled tenders seasoned with the company's proprietary 11 herbs and spices.
🥔 Hashbrown Sticks: Portable extruded potato sides engineered for grab-and-go morning consumption.
🥐 Mini Cronuts: Flaky, sugar-dusted hybrid pastry bites.
☕ Speciality Coffee and Lattes: Freshly brewed hot drip coffee and iced lattes.
In parallel with morning goods, Open House establishes an elevated beverage platform, serving as a commercial destination designed to capture afternoon snacking and beverage-led visits:
🍋 Flavoured Lemonades: Custom fruit-infused citrus beverages.
🧋 Boba Refreshers: Iced fruit-flavoured drinks incorporating popping and tapioca boba pearls.
🥤 Krunch Shakes: Thick, blended dairy milkshakes topped with crunchy textural inclusions.
Menu Customisation and Savoury Formats
The culinary lineup introduces modular flavour customisation across the chain's core fried chicken categories, splitting sauce applications between customer-selected dips and prep-line drizzling:
🍗 Iconic Chicken Lines: Sliced Original Recipe tenders, bone-in chicken cuts, hot wings, and upgraded classic and premium chicken sandwiches.
🥣 Custom Dipping Sauces: Mix-and-match sauce portions across standard recipes (Kentucky BBQ, Buffalo, Ranch) and spice-forward varieties (Jalapeño Ranch, Sweet Heat Ranch, Garlic Parmesan) paired with Twisters, Snackers, and sandwiches.
🍯 Drizzled Formats: Kitchen-applied sauce glazes pre-coated over fried chicken cuts, tenders, wings, and seasoned fries for immediate consumption.
🧆 Expanded Side Dishes: Traditional Southern sides including mashed potatoes with gravy and biscuits, alongside contemporary accompaniments such as fried green beans, spicy pickles, and southwest seasoned corn.
🍪 Bakery Confectionery: Scratch-baked chocolate chunk cookies and miniature glazed cronuts.
Architecture and Technology Integration
The physical footprint of the McKinney site reflects mid-century modern design cues inspired by the brand's founding era, featuring floor-to-ceiling windows, natural timber finishes, and indoor, outdoor, and breezeway seating for 52 guests.
Operationally, the restaurant pairs digital ordering automation with dedicated table hospitality:
Hospitality and Service: Table-side food delivery to replicate casual-dining service standards within a quick-service format.
Drive-Thru and Mobile Throughput: Dual drive-thru ordering lanes paired with an independent, dedicated mobile order collection lane to reduce queue times.
Digital Front-of-House: In-store self-ordering touchscreens and interactive digital menu boards.
Brand Engagement: An interactive digital Celebration Photo Booth alongside a dedicated Swag Bar retailing branded apparel and merchandise.
KFC will use the McKinney location to measure customer throughput, kitchen workflow efficiency, and ticket size before determining which menu lines and digital technologies will roll out across its broader US franchise system.
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