The classic brand wants to regain share in a QSR category as hot as any other.

KFC has, to its own admission, ceded U.S. chicken share. In 2024, it slid to No. 4 among peers in the category side of the QSR 50, with Raising Cane’s squeezing ahead at $4.96 billion to $4.9 billion in systemwide sales. The fast casual grew by a net of 101 venues while KFC retracted by 122.

Catherine Tan-Gillespie, who was named president of KFC U.S. in April, elevating from her role as CMO and CDO, and is a 10-year brand vet, said last month KFC was “well aware of the latest fried chicken rankings” and where it slotted. In its 75th year, the goal has been to reignite a comeback rooted in reminding “America exactly who we are,” she said.

“If people can give their ex a million second chances, I hope our fans can give us one,” Tan-Gillespie quipped in July.

KFC has been down the comeback trail before, namely in 2016 when it launched a “Re-Colonelization” effort to emphasize quality and upgrade locations. This included an American Showman design with red-and-white, bucket-like stripes outside, as well as 100,000 hours of internal retraining to bring techniques back to “Colonel standards.”

This 2025 effort rings familiar notes. The brand said it wants to regain momentum by focusing on what made it one of the largest retail brands in the world—Original Recipe chicken with 11 herbs and spices. It’s why KFC kicked off a July campaign with free fried chicken. It wanted customers to see firsthand the “great strides in operations” that led to improvements in taste and guest satisfaction scores in smaller tests. KFC had to get its product in front of people again before they could recognize what changed.

It even created a feedback form for customers to respond so they could “co-create this comeback.” As Tan-Gillespie explained, “come back and give us a shot—your first bucket’s on us.”

And also not unlike that pre-2020 turnaround, KFC resurfaced Colonel Sanders with chef, restaurateur, and actor Matty Matheson (of The Bear) playing the role. The first go-around, it was an ever-cycling roster of Colonel-clad celebrities. KFC to that point ran ads featuring local cooks hand-breading and frying chicken on-site.

Kevin Hochman, then-brand president and chief concept officer, who today heads up Brinker International and Chili’s surging turnaround as CEO, said in 2017 the approach went unnoticed by customers. KFC had to meet guests where they were and entertain them—get their attention before filling them in on what got better. The education-plus-humor strategy brought in “SNL” alum Darrell Hammon as the first Colonel impersonator, and the switch was flipped.

Internal testing showed only 43 percent of fast-food ads were correctly linked to the corresponding brand. For KFC, it was close to double at 74 percent.

And it went on to post 11 consecutive quarters of same-store sales growth.

There are signs KFC’s latest Colonel-fueled ad resonated, too. “Obsession” scored highly in System1’s Test Your Ad plaform. “We’re making KFC impossible to ignore and focusing on what made KFC iconic in the first place—our chicken and our founder’s obsessive pursuit of flavor,” VP of Brand Management Anna Faktorovich said. “This work marks the start of our Comeback Plan—a bold signal that KFC is back and more committed than ever to serving up the world’s best fried chicken.”

“Obsession” centered on the Colonel, and a playful back-and-forth with a rival lawyer over the idea of, “you can’t copyright a flavor.”

System1 said the ad, to Faktorovich’s aim, left an impression. “Our research, The Extraordinary Cost of Dull, shows that when ads fail to engage emotionally, brands pay the price in wasted spend and missed opportunities,” System1 SVP of marketing Vanessa Chin wrote. “This is why KFC’s willingness to evoke small doses of negative emotions, such as Contempt [2 percent], Disgust [1 percent), Anger [1 percent], Fear [1 percent], and Sadness [1 percent], is so effective. It reduces neutrality or emotional flatness, which does nothing for the brand, as long as those emotions are ultimately resolved with a positive payoff.”

Comments on the company’s “Test Your Ad” data showed consumers viewed the ad as a humorous, larger-than-life capture of the Colonel’s history. And the result garnered strong scores, with “Obsession’s” 4.7-Star Rating sailing past the 3.4-Star average for QSR brands overall, and a powerful Brand Fluency (recognition) score also topping the norm. Most notable, though, the company said, in a restaurant sector where deals and sales play such a large role, was the performance in short-term “Spike Rating.” It’s a metric that suggests KFC’s comeback can start right away, Chin said.

Dialing back to push forward is going to remain central to what KFC hopes to do, with operations anchoring nostalgia. Get diners back with buzz; keep them with quality.

The company will add potato wedges nationwide August 18 after a five-year absence. KFC will also return Hot & Spicy wings, featuring a marinade and double hand-breading. Potato wedges were sliced from menus in 2020 before trialing earlier this year in five Tampa restaurants.

They ran for two weeks before deciding to prep for a wider launch, which will come as an LTO.

“This isn’t just a nostalgic nod. It’s an example of how we’re turning feedback into action as we chart our Kentucky Fried Comeback, a bold, brand-wide rally to give people more reasons to fall in love with us all over again,” Tan-Gillespie said in a statement.The placement and picture ahead

KFC understands the stakes.

Its updated creative will physically show in store with signage and billboards that flip the typical Colonel Sanders logo from cheerful to … less so, “indicating KFC is serious about winning back the hearts [and stomachs] of its fans.”

“The Colonel would not be happy about our market share, and we’re serious about reminding America exactly who we are: the game changer with a relentless pursuit of the best fried chicken. We won’t smile until our customers do,” Tan-Gillespie said in July.

In QSR, a category that’s hotter than most, KFC’s comeback is one to watch.
KFC doesn’t want to lag behind in what’s one of QSR busiest growth centers. Chicken sales at McDonald’s today are now on par with beef. It’s partly why the “burger” brand created a “Restaurant Experience Team” in March to go forward with an integrated structure that dedicates leaders to beef, chicken, and beverages. The U.S. chicken market was $43.5 billion in 2023, per Zion Market Research, and is predicted to grow to about $77.9 billion by 2023.

The top two average-unit volume brands in the entire QSR 50—Chick-fil-A and Raising Cane’s—belong to chicken at $7.5 million and $6.56 million, respectively. Chick-fil-A (145 net units), Popeyes (97), Raising Cane’s (101), and Wingstop (278) all achieved triple-digit (or just about) growth in 2024.

KFC experienced positive net unit expansion in 2021 for the first time in 17 years but then lost a net of 284 U.S. restaurants in 2024, 2023, and 2022 combined. Thus far in 2025, it has shuttered a net of 27 restaurants.

The brand’s U.S. same-store sales and system sales both fell 5 percent in fiscal 2024. In Q1 of this year, comps fell 1 percent and systemwide sales decreased 2 percent.

Along with Tan-Gillespie’s appointment, KFC announced a new CEO atop the business in March as well, with Scott Mezvinsky, who previously served as president of Taco Bell North America and International, elevating up. He, too, was a KFC vet. Additionally, Yum! Brands announced KFC headquarters were moving from its longtime headquarters in Louisville to Plano, Texas, the home of Pizza Hut and KFC Global.

In some ways, and this was true in 2016 as well, KFC’s comeback could play as consequential a role in the category’s makeup as any emerging brand. It still ended 2024 as the largest U.S. chicken chain at 3,669 restaurants, ahead of Popeyes (3,148), Chick-fil-A (3,109), Wingstop (2,204), Zaxbys (968), Raising Cane’s (828), Bojangles (825), Church’s (761), and El Pollo Loco (498).

So if KFC can regain traction, like it did previously, it could build share quickly since its awareness battle isn’t as much a numbers game as a retelling.

It’s a first step, Yum! CEO David Gibbs said in Q2, “aimed at striking the right balance between innovative, relevant products and strong consumer value.”

The base, before looking forward

While much of what’s circulated so far focuses on marketing and perception, there are a lot of assets in the field for KFC. Here’s a look at some performance, from the chain’s recent FDD.

Below represent new outlets and how performance tracks on different definitions of real estate. As of year-end 2024, there were 62 restaurants built as a “new outlet,” either fresh or torn down and reconstructed. KFC discloses information relating to average weekly net sales for 51 of them, which were open from 13 o 104 weeks. KFC excluded the others—seven that opened in 2024—due to an insufficient period of operations.

KFC’s traditional franchised side of the business ended 2024 with 3,638 restaurants, down 123, year-over-year. The number decreased 127 in 2023 and 31 in 2022. So KFC has gone from 3,919 total traditional locations at the start of 2022 to 3,638 headed into 2025. The non-trad arm declined one restaurant to 29 and posted average net sales of $1.094.921 million and media net sales of $873,053.

KFC also transferred 168 restaurants to new ownership other than corporate, a significant step up from 34 in 2023 and 73 in 2022. The majority of those came in North Carolina (40).

California is a market that has seen a sizable decrease in the past three years. KFC had 427 restaurants there in 2022 and exited 2024 at 385. Illinois also retracted from 145 to 106 in that timeframe. Texas fell from 280 to 239.

Last year’s development included 28 openings, 151 terminations, 34 stores reacquired by KFC (all in Texas), and zero that ceased operations for “other reasons.”

The numbers—outside of buying units back—were in line with 2023, when 30 stores opened alongside 156 terminations. The prior year saw 53 openings and 83 terminations.

It doesn’t appear KFC will ratchet up growth in 2025 as it works to solidify operations and regain share. It has 18 franchised outlets projected to open in 2025.

Another point to keep an eye on as KFC battles back is the growth of its chicken tender and sauce-led brand “Saucy,” which debuted late last year. The company said sales at the flashy, Orlando-based brand were more than double KFC’s U.S.’ system average. That reality placed it among the top 15 locations in the footprint. KFC said it expects to open at least 20 more and has a lot of learning ahead. “We are eager to leverage the invaluable consumer insights relevant for our larger KFC U.S. system,” Gibbs said.

Source https://www.qsrmagazine.com/story/kfcs-latest-comeback-is-equal-parts-nostalgia-and-reawakening/

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