--- title: "Taco Bell and KFC generating returns from new concept tests" url: https://burnaze.com/article/03888f94-4b3e-4250-bd05-e08532cd8f35 source: "Nation's Restaurant News" original_url: https://www.nrn.com/quick-service/taco-bell-and-kfc-generating-returns-from-new-concept-tests author: "Alicia Kelso" category: "Chicken" industry: "Restaurants" segment: "Chicken" topics: ["Emerging brands"] published: 2026-04-30T16:15:06.000Z modified: 2026-10-31T13:16:26.232Z image: https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/bltea7aee2fca050a19/blt07b143bd0a685041/69f3805865fda72fd0ea7682/Live_M%C3%A1s_Caf%C3%A9_01.jpg?disable=upscale&width=1200&height=630&fit=crop --- # Taco Bell and KFC generating returns from new concept tests **TL;DR:** Yum Brands' Taco Bell and KFC are driving menu innovation through specialty sauces and beverages, leveraging the company's in-house insights agency, Collider. The brands are seeing returns from new concept tests, including KFC's Saucy concept and Taco Bell's Live Más Café. *By Alicia Kelso, originally published in Nation's Restaurant News on 2026-04-30. [Read the original](https://www.nrn.com/quick-service/taco-bell-and-kfc-generating-returns-from-new-concept-tests).* ## Story A recurring theme from Yum Brands’ first quarter earnings call Wednesday was how its brands — especially Taco Bell and KFC — are “fighting for the future consumer.” As part of that fight, the brands are stepping up menu innovation in tandem with the company’s in-house consumer insights agency, Collider, which it acquired 11 years ago. Collider recently released its first-ever food trends report showing that consumers are seeking “choice therapy” in response to being overwhelmed by external factors. Choice therapy, according to the report, means “reclaiming agency through small, sensory choices.” In other words, consumers want to be in control of even the smallest decisions. This may explain why more consumers are gravitating toward specialty beverages and sauces, which allow them the ability to customize their orders in a number of ways. It may also explain why sauces are 2.4 times more likely to bring excitement to consumers versus other food items. Accordingly, Taco Bell and KFC have both stepped up their sauce game in recent quarters, with launches such as Frank’s RedHot Diablo Sauce and Original Honey BBQ, respectively. More than 70% of KFC’s best-selling menu item tests include specific sauces, Collider’s research noted. To leverage demand for more such innovation, KFC is pulling insights from its Saucy concept, introduced in late 2024. Saucy has grown to about 10 locations throughout Florida, with a menu focused on chicken tenders and 11 signature sauces (a nod to Colonel Sanders’ 11 herbs and spices). “The platform includes globally deployable dunked and dripped flavor lineups, enabling faster speed to market and more consistent execution across geographies,” Yum CEO Chris Turner told analysts this week. “Eight of KFC's top 20 markets are reactivating or launching one of these sauce platforms in 2026, including South Africa, India, Germany, the U.K., France and the Middle East. “We are leveraging Saucy in a big way in terms of powering the broader KFC business.” KFC’s markets are also replicating successful menu launches across international markets, facilitated by the company’s new “global innovation pantry.” KFC U.K.’s first quarter, for example, included a 7% increase in same-store sales driven in part by its Pickle Mania menu. The pickle-topped menu originated in Canada in 2025 and has since become the most successful limited-time offer in KFC U.K. history. Yum’s research also found that 43% of specialty beverages are purchased without a food attachment, and 61% of specialty beverage occasions include order customizations such as toppings or flavor shots. Also, according to Turner, 62% of Taco Bell’s orders in 2025 included a beverage, which explains the company’s acceleration in the space. “Taco Bell and KFC are leaning into the fast-growing beverage category by introducing highly differentiated offerings,” Turner said. “(It’s) an important area to increase the pace of innovation and deepen consumer engagement.” To achieve its objectives, Taco Bell continues to pilot Live Más Café, which was introduced in late 2024 and has since expanded to 38 restaurants as an in-store concept that sells unique beverages such as Agua Refrescas and Churro Chillers. “Taco Bell is already leveraging learnings from the pilot to broaden the beverage menu across the entire system with proven successes such as Midnight Baja Blast and Agua Refrescas. In fact, 43% of Taco Bell's specialty beverage sales are standalone orders without food, proving the opportunity for incrementality is very high,” Turner said. He added that many of the specialty beverages available at Taco Bell originated at its Live Más Café concept. “So, we’re already getting tremendous returns from the Live Más Café investments,” he said. Similar beverage (and ROI) opportunities exist at KFC, he added. The chain is growing its Kwench beverage platform to the U.K., Australia and Canada, with more markets on the horizon. Turner said Kwench provides a refit return-on-investment in less than three years, as well as overall payback improvement on new restaurant builds. “KFC's creativity around innovation is playing a role in accelerating unit economics and … continues to help us identify, attract and support world-class franchise partners who are eager to join our system and take advantage of these opportunities,” he said. “To battle for the future consumer, KFC is elevating its menus through high-impact collaborations and innovation and expanding its sauces platform, building on insights and best practices from Saucy by KFC.” ## Entities - Restaurants (sector) - Nation's Restaurant News (publication) - Taco Bell (company) - menu innovation (topic) - KFC (company) - Yum Brands (company) - Alicia Kelso (person) - Chris Turner (person) - Saucy (company) - Frank's RedHot (company) - consumer insights (topic) - beverage category (topic) --- Originally reported by Alicia Kelso, Nation's Restaurant News (https://www.nrn.com/quick-service/taco-bell-and-kfc-generating-returns-from-new-concept-tests). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/03888f94-4b3e-4250-bd05-e08532cd8f35).