KFC has opened a new restaurant in McKinney, Texas, that the company says is testing whether the 75-year-old fried-chicken chain can modernize without losing what made it famous.
The location, called Open House, is designed as a prototype rather than a one-off remodel. KFC U.S. President Catherine Tan-Gillespie told Fox News Digital the project reflects a broader push to make the brand relevant to everyday meal decisions, not just nostalgia.
“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.”
That gap between fond memories and actual lunch or dinner choices shaped the design process. Tan-Gillespie said the team asked a simple question when building Open House: what would Colonel Harland Sanders build if he were starting from scratch today.
The result blends Art Deco and mid-century modern styling with large glass windows, digital ordering kiosks and drive-thru technology. It also brings back elements meant to slow customers down, including lobby hosts, table service, booths and outdoor seating.
“For me, the philosophy is that we should be digital where it’s helpful, but human where it matters,” Tan-Gillespie said.
What’s Changing on the Menu
The Open House menu keeps KFC’s buckets and Original Recipe chicken in place, but adds tenders, wings, sandwiches, wraps and nuggets, along with new sauces, drinks, snacks, sweets and sides. Tan-Gillespie described the approach as protecting the chain’s most recognizable products while testing how people want to eat chicken now.
The restaurant is also experimenting with hours that go well beyond KFC’s traditional lunch-and-dinner business, operating from 6 a.m. to midnight to test breakfast and late-night sales.
“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.”
Why McKinney
KFC picked the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb deliberately. Tan-Gillespie described the region as a fast-growing, competitive restaurant market, and said McKinney offers a mix of existing KFC customers and new consumers the chain wants to reach. A suburban Texas setting also gives the company a testing ground it believes could translate to similar markets elsewhere in the country.
Even with all the experimentation around format, menu and hours, Tan-Gillespie said certain elements of KFC remain fixed.
“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.”
Asked how Sanders might view the new restaurant, Tan-Gillespie said she believes he’d approve.
“I think he would feel really proud, actually,” she said. “I think he would say, ‘This feels like me. This feels like what I was trying to do.’ But for today.”
