--- title: "KFC’s Next Global Chapter Will Be ‘Unmistakably’ Bold and True to the Brand" url: https://burnaze.com/article/3053ded8-63b6-4949-ad9a-4c1756a5c9b5 source: "QSR Magazine" original_url: https://www.qsrmagazine.com/story/kfcs-next-global-chapter-will-be-unmistakably-bold-and-true-to-the-brand/ author: "Danny Klein" category: "Chicken" industry: "Restaurants" segment: "Chicken" published: 2026-06-15T14:48:01.000Z modified: 2026-10-31T13:16:10.638Z image: https://www.qsrmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/KFCdesign.jpg --- # KFC’s Next Global Chapter Will Be ‘Unmistakably’ Bold and True to the Brand **TL;DR:** KFC has unveiled a broad update to its brand, including a new focus on boneless chicken, sauces, and a refreshed brand identity, with changes rolling out in the UK, Ireland, Australia, and the US throughout 2026. The update is part of the brand's effort to lead the chicken QSR category and set the standard for modern chicken. *By Danny Klein, originally published in QSR Magazine on 2026-06-15. [Read the original](https://www.qsrmagazine.com/story/kfcs-next-global-chapter-will-be-unmistakably-bold-and-true-to-the-brand/).* ## Key facts - KFC unveiled a broad update - 53% of Yum!'s divisional operating profit - 6% system sales growth in Q1 ## Story Valerie Kubizniak has worked at KFC’s parent company, Yum! Brands, since 2007, starting in Australia. The chicken category those days was, understandably, a rather different arena when it came to how consumers accessed brands and the competitive field. But there’s little question, she says, it’s having a moment now. “Lucky for us,” says Kubizniak, who became Global CMO of the brand in 2022, “we know chicken pretty well.” ## Brand Update On Monday, KFC unveiled its next chapter—a broad, multi-point update that centers on boneless chicken, sauces, and a refreshed brand identity, including a modern restaurant design, logo, and more. The U.K. and Ireland will begin rolling changes this month with new Tenders and nine sauces alongside branding surfacing in communications and digital touchpoints. In the coming weeks, Australia and the U.S. will join, with additional areas onboarding throughout 2026. KFC said the update is as much rooted in experience as visual cues. It’s a new generation of design built for hospitality as well as efficiencies. Store environments will be dynamic and boast the ability to flex throughout each day to meet different occasions. There is a lot to unpack regarding what this means for KFC, a chain that accounts for 53 percent of Yum!’s divisional operating profit (Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and Habit comprising the rest). KFC delivered 6 percent system sales growth in Q1 and hit a record for gross builds at 648 new openings across 45 countries. KFC is opening a store, somewhere globally, about every 3.5 hours and exited the quarter with 34,332 restaurants. All to say, a system refresh for KFC is an undertaking with larger ripple realities. That, Kubizniak says, is something the brand doesn’t take lightly. From her point of view, KFC is “a 74-year young brand” that ignited a category. “And where we come in is using this as an opportunity to actually write chicken’s next chapter,” she says. “We want to be the brand that really leads the category and sets the standard for what modern chicken QSR looks like.” “So, that’s our ambition.” KFC began with an elementary notion: evolve with how the consumer is. That led KFC to more boneless chicken. Again, compared to 20-plus years ago, this is a sector rife with growing brands, from Raising Cane’s, which added a net of 92 locations in 2025, to Chick-fil-A (up 178 last year) to chains from Wendy’s to Bojangles to McDonald’s pushing their cards into this boneless opportunity. KFC’s effort will showcase items built for “dipping, dunking, and solo snacking,” it said. There are about 25 new sauces for markets to pick from and fit to local preferences. Options such as Chimichurri Ranch and Hot Honey Habanero. “Dunked” refers to tenders, wings, and sandwiches drenched in sauce currently available in South Africa and India. The brand said these respond to a growing demand for more indulgent, sauce-forward menu experiences. The beverage extension will take KWENCH by KFC around the landscape. It features Boba Refreshers, Krunch Shakes, sparkling lemonades, and iced coffees, and is available in select U.K. and Ireland stores (roughly 600). That pilot will go permanent in Australia and Canada in 2026. Earlier this year, after a successful 38-store test, KFC said it would expand KWENCH in the U.K. and Ireland, marking the first full market rollout. And in Q4, Yum! outlined a path to 3,000 locations for the layered-in concept that boasts 11 freshly made drinks across those categories. KFC said KWENCH sales more than doubled from the start of its pilot to the decision to grow it. And north of 90 percent of users said they “loved” the new drinks. About half added they’d show up specifically for KWENCH. ## New Menu Items “This is a comprehensive business evolution,” Kubizniak says, “from our food to the experience to our restaurants. It’s something that we’ve been working on for quite some time and now we’re sharing it with everybody, with the world, and then, obviously, as part of that is an update to our visual identity systems.” Reworking its brand assets is KFC’s external expression of this work. And it’s involved. Fortunately, Kubizniak says, the company entered the discussion with no shortage of distinctive assets. There’s the bucket, the Colonel, and KFC’s famed stripes. So, the aim was to take these levers and elevate them. The new logo sandwiches Colonel Sanders between “KFC” to create a bucket shape. “These elements,” Kubizniak says, “… these aren’t just brand assets; they’re iconic advantages.” What customers will now see is a deliberate lean into KFC’s bucket silhouette. That shape and design, which Kubizniak calls “one of the most powerful” in retail, is going to frame food and show up in culture. It’s a big part of the new store look as well. Secondly, KFC gave the Colonel “a bit of a facelift,” Kubizniak says. The stripes, as noted, are turning dynamic and will be used to relay stories across mediums. “It’s going to be expressed across all of our brands at points from end frames and our advertising to our digital channels to our packaging to our team member’s uniforms to our restaurant design,” she says. Importantly, KFC isn’t changing for the sake of it, Kubizniak explains. The brand is in 151 markets and was able to speak to “thousands” of customers to devise an update that benefits the chain. An upgrade, she says, “unmistakably KFC” but bolder, more vibrant, and “cooler.” Returning to menu updates, KFC, likewise, observed trends unfolding throughout its 34,000-plus-unit system. Kubizniak says it’s clear guests are changing how they eat. It’s less about structured meals today and more about grazing, snacking, and sipping. Kubizniak was recently in Korea and saw the dynamic firsthand. Consumers want KFC to make it easier to eat chicken. Bone-in is becoming less relevant. And throughout global trade areas, there’s a desire, she says, for diners to elevate food through sauces, on their own terms. Those points have showed up consistently. Kubizniak says timing will vary in terms of rollout. KWENCH’s appeal, though, isn’t difficult to spot. Beverage, perhaps only second to chicken, has become a pressing battleground in QSR, with upstarts from 7 Brew to Dutch Bros pushing into the orbit of Starbucks and Dunkin’. And large chains have crashed the lexicon, too, with McDonald’s getting into refreshers recently and Taco Bell continuing to scale its Live Mas Café beverage offshoot. Kubizniak says KFC believes there’s “enormous growth” in beverages. “We see it in the data,” she notes. From a brand perch, however, it’s also going to enable KFC to reach younger consumers. These guests, she says, love posting on social and don’t mind spending for specialty drinks. “But the biggest beverage opportunity for us is it opens new occasions to use the brand,” she says. “People don’t often come to us for those snacking occasions. Having KWENCH enables us to do that and we’ve been very intentional. We didn’t want to just create products; we wanted to create a new sub brand, which really signals that we are a serious beverage player.” These items will stand on their own. Yet they do also pair with chicken. It’s going to empower KFC to expand and innovate, Kubizniak says. “New consumers and new occasions,” she adds. “And therefore, a really big part of our business moving forward.” ## Restaurant Design With the fresh store design, KFC framed this as rethinking QSR to “QXR,” or “quality experience restaurants.” Kubizniak says restaurant design can often prove static. KFC wants to develop kinetic stores that adapt over the course of a day. If you show up for lunch, when you might want to get in and out quickly, it’ll feel different compared to dinner, when somebody might want to hang around. How KFC will achieve this, Kubizniak shares, boils down to screens, lighting, and music. Simply, KFC will evolve the vibe of restaurants by daypart. “It becomes a real experience as opposed to the same experience,” she says. A modern store will arrive in Dubai as an immersive, two-story restaurant (opening in the fall). The next will be an open-concept design in McKinney, Texas, called “Open House” that reinterprets KFC’s heritage with “modern energy.” That’s slated for late summer. More details to come on the U.S. location in particular but Kubizniak says it’s “trying to achieve the same thing” regarding being a refreshed expression of KFC, while less kinetic. “This is how we want KFC in the U.S. to look like over the next five years,” she says. “We’re trying to do the same thing, but the approaches are slightly different in international markets versus the U.S.,” Kubizniak adds. “But we’re super excited about the design. I can’t wait to see it in real life. I think it’ll be surprising for people and in line with what consumers expect from brands today” The larger premise for KFC remains to get on the front foot of what’s coming. Its unique scale allows it to move quicker and do it louder. Kubizniak wants that “louder” to be an “unmistakably” KFC approach. And the more people talk about the chicken, the better it is for the largest category concept in the world. “We’re certainly not being complacent,” she says. “It’s always following the consumer and moving fast.” Especially around the globe, KFC has begun to see competitors march in after years, sometimes decades, being the only true player. KFC doesn’t have the game to itself anymore. “I think it’s a good thing honestly,” Kubizniak says. “Competition makes everyone better.” KFC is going to innovate with personalization and flexibility and marketing that sparks conversations. “We want to lead the category and make sure that we are staying in lockstep with what the consumer wants and being able to deliver that better experience to our guests,” she says. ## Entities - QSR (sector) - menu pricing (topic) - QSR Magazine (publication) - McDonald's (company) - Wendy's (company) - KFC (company) - Chick-fil-A (company) - Yum Brands (company) - U.K. (location) - Australia (location) - Danny Klein (person) - restaurant design (topic) --- Originally reported by Danny Klein, QSR Magazine (https://www.qsrmagazine.com/story/kfcs-next-global-chapter-will-be-unmistakably-bold-and-true-to-the-brand/). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/3053ded8-63b6-4949-ad9a-4c1756a5c9b5).