KFC, the world’s most popular chicken restaurant chain, is to launch new graphics that emphasize the food is freshly prepared by trained chefs in every restaurant. The designs have been created by non-roster full-service design agency Toast following a competitive pitch, and will initially be seen in Central and Eastern Europe.
Austin Cooke, Development Director for KFC CEE says, “We know that our consumers want to know more about where our great tasting food comes from, and how it is prepared, and so we challenged Toast to create something that was different, exciting and dynamic, which would convey this to our youthful customer base. Toast has seized the brief to come up with some fresh-thinking that will give customers a new insight into what makes KFC such an enjoyable experience. Their work clearly conveys our core brand values: natural, authentic and high quality, and gives us a platform which we can adopt globally in the future.”
The new designs build on the strength of the KFC brand, and aim to reinforce two main messages: all KFC food is freshly prepared in store everyday by trained cooks, who still follow the original Colonel Sanders recipe, which is why the KFC taste is unique. The artwork will be used throughout the restaurants and includes large-scale graphic panels of 4m wide to information panels, glass panels and posters. It’s designed to be inter-changeable with existing designs and flexible so it will work on both smaller and larger restaurant spaces.
Chris Tymon, Toast’s Creative Director says, “Our key idea was to put the cook first as a way of correcting the widespread belief that food at KFC is pre-prepared. This provides the basis for the over-riding theme of ‘Cook is King’. Authenticity is everything for the KFC brand, so we are using photos of real KFC cooks preparing and cooking chicken in real KFC kitchens. We have created a suite of designs with which are much cleaner and have clearer messaging. This will give franchisees a toolkit to promote key features such as the secret recipe, the cooking process and the unique KFC history. It’s testament to the power of our ideas that they have been taken through to fruition.”
Toast worked alongside KFC’s European Brand Managers, Dallas-based Global Brand Managers and Architects to develop a solution that creates a dynamic and youthful feel whilst remaining true to the KFC brand.
Simon Browne, Toast’s Head of Brand Strategy adds, “When approaching such a well recognized global brand as KFC it would have been easy to be intimidated and take a conservative route and avoid addressing the key issues, but we believe in solving challenges not avoiding them. It was this pragmatic approach that allowed us to create a solution that injects a new level of creativity in combination with the best elements of the existing materials.”
The final suite of designs were unveiled at the annual KFC CEE Development College attended by all KFC CEE franchisees at the end of October and trialed in a newly refurbished restaurant in Latsia, Cyprus, before being rolled out across Europe.