KFC tests table service prototype as it rolls out global menu update

KFC is about to test a format that could change the job mix on its dining room floor, not just the menu board. Later this summer in McKinney, Texas, near Yum Brands’ Plano headquarters, the company will open a prototype called Open House with table service, a drive-thru and takeout, a setup that will quickly show whether the brand is creating server, runner or host roles, or simply layering new service steps onto the same staffing levels.

KFC says Open House is meant to inform how future restaurants are built and how existing units evolve over time. Catherine Tan-Gillespie, who took over as KFC U.S. president in April 2025, said the goal is to “jolt the system and jump forward a decade” as the chain weighs how to reinvent the Colonel’s legacy for a next-generation concept. The first Open House location will be company-owned, and a franchisee has also agreed to develop one.

The prototype lands alongside a broader global update that KFC launched on June 15, 2026, starting in the United Kingdom and Ireland before moving to Australia and the United States, then the rest of the system. KFC says the overhaul covers more than 34,000 restaurants in more than 150 countries, with a new restaurant opening somewhere in the world every 3.5 hours on average.

For frontline workers, the menu changes matter because they often reshape pace, prep and guest traffic as much as brand image. The update includes a global sauce pantry with more than 20 sauces, Dunked items already sold in South Africa and India, and KWENCH by KFC beverages that have launched in select UK and Ireland locations and are expanding in Australia and Canada this year. Scott Mezvinsky, KFC Global’s chief executive, said the chain sees a “clear opportunity to set the standard for modern chicken in QSR.”

KFC is also leaning on its Saucy spinoff concept, which debuted in late 2024 in Florida and later expanded into Texas, as part of the turnaround. The company says it has posted three consecutive quarters of same-store sales growth after seven quarters of declines, a sign the brand believes its mix of sauces, beverages and new service formats is starting to resonate. That makes the labor question sharper, because table service can mean more training, more handoffs and more pressure unless the new format comes with the payroll to match.