KFC Customer Experience Design

From Finger Lickin’ Good to Finger Lickin’ Great

Expertise

Format Strategy
Brand Communication
Customer Journey Mapping
Branded Experience and Interior Design
Brand Application
Art Direction
Restaurant Design

+200%

Post-Pilot Sales Increase

Nomination, Best Typographic Design Craft

Commissioned Across UK & Ireland, Canada, MENA and S. Africa

Watch the KFC Restaurant design story

The challenge

Breathe new life into the KFC experience, elevating the brand to its deserved place as the global market leader.

We were originally appointed to develop a new, more urban KFC restaurant design format for city centres, to push back against the rising Fast Casual sector but at the same time evolving the QSR design experience. This led to further creative strategies and concepts in the UK & Ireland, and across all Global markets, using the KFC restaurant experience to shift the perception of KFC from ‘Fast Food’ to ‘Fast Good Food’.

Our journey

A delicious partnership

2015 - Smallbox

A new urban KFC restaurant format in the UK & Ireland, designed as a ‘fast casual’ rather than a ‘fast food’ experience to appeal to city-centre, style savvy customers. Concrete and plywood blend with industrial touches to create a ultra contemporary space.

2016 - Main-format

The radical re-invention of out of town drive-thru/large dine-in restaurants for the UK & Ireland territory, introducing digital self-order kiosks & menus, digital marketing, fresh brand art and a look & feel that set the innovation benchmark for KFC globally.

2018 - Global Strategy

Worldwide concept design, visualisation & documentation of ‘Relevant, Easy & Distinctive’ universal & localised design principles solution to set the standard for range of KFC restaurant format types across all global territories.

2020 - Next Generation

‘Revival-driven’ post-pandemic design refresh, building on K3, updating restaurant design, experience and brand expression to embrace new channels and ‘bring people back together over a bucket’.

2021 - Global Art

Development of in-restaurant artwork including creation of a suite of pieces expressing the compelling and unique story of the Colonel and his brand story.

2022 - Global Concepts

Elevation of Customer Experience design standards for restaurant exteriors. Sustainable design strategy. North Star KFC of the Future concept built as Virtual Reality experience.

2023 - Red Hot

Market-specific design applying global/local principles across multi-format restaurant types in Canada, including exterior, interior and localised brand art.

The big idea

Expressing the legend of The Colonel through architecture, interior design, art and communications.

Brand Personality

KFC’s story is irresistible, and its personality has always been inseparable from a joyful love of fried chicken. In the KFC interior design, we bring this to life through a range of vibrant creative messaging and imagery strategically placed along the key ‘mindset’ moments in the Customer Journey.

Digital/Physical Journeys

Linking together all channels seamlessly, the easy art of ‘Relevant, Easy, Distinctive’ is about integrating digital touch-points around the drive-thru/kerbside collection. In the KFC interior design, online pre-order as well as in-restaurant digital browsing and ordering make for a smooth customer experience.

The I-AM team are a genuine pleasure to work with, and really understood the balance between KFC’s existing brand recognition and our new strategic direction. The new concept pilots broke records for performance upon opening, and continue to trade above target, and naturally, we are rolling the concept assets out across our estate.

Dave Batchelor, Creative Design Manager at KFC UK & Ireland

Next-Generation Restaurant Concepts

The vibrant new KFC designs are built on insight & research creating progressive experience principles that generate creative solutions for a range of scheme types. Across many formats, the unique KFC story is brought to life through iconic architectural statements, interiors & furniture configurations that express KFC;’s love for quality chicken freshly served The Right Way, for everyone in a spirit of togetherness.