October 2025
The fried chicken market is going from strength to strength, and as the original and market leader, KFC is well-positioned to unlock this opportunity. Its recent announcement of a £1.5 billion investment in the UK and Ireland over the next five years signals an exciting era of expansion for KFC, as it sets its sights on becoming the fastest-growing restaurant brand for the next generation.
Historically, the proportion of KFC restaurants operated by franchisees in the UK has varied between 70% and 90%. That shifted in 2017, when parent company Yum! Brands instigated a transformation plan to drive growth, resulting in Yum! Brands increasing franchise restaurant ownership globally, with KFC UK & Ireland becoming a 95% franchise business with only 50 trading restaurants of its own.
While Yum! Brands continues to pursue a globally asset-light model, with the majority of its restaurants operated by franchisees, a pivotal moment came in 2023 for KFC UK & Ireland when it acquired over 200 restaurants from EG Group, its former largest UK franchisee. This strategic move marked a significant acceleration in KFC’s growth ambitions across the region. Alice Hutfield, Head of Acquisitions at KFC UK & Ireland, recalls: “This was a strategic opportunity for us to really build on the growth we were seeing in the UK market. We came to an agreement and completed the purchase of EG’s KFC UK&I franchise network in April 2024. So now we have 263 restaurants – and an Irish portfolio, which we’ve never had before.”
Strategic springboard.
Reflecting this renewed focus on building KFC’s estate, Alice now heads a dedicated acquisitions team, with a brief to make the most of this unprecedented opportunity. She explains: “Now we’re trading with a critical mass of restaurants, we can access areas of markets we never could before. We’ve always been looking for new growth, but having a much bigger estate makes it a lot easier.”
As part of this ambition, KFC is investing in more flagship locations and drive-thrus, where there is strong potential for growth, such as North West England and Ireland.
Building on the successful opening of a flagship at London’s iconic The O2, a property on Dublin’s famous Grafton Street is in the works, and Alice is determined to take KFC to places it’s never been before: “We serve 14 million customers a year, but nearly double that number still can’t come to us easily. We really want to reach those people. We’re aiming for 500 more restaurants in the next decade ideally.” And the business knows what it will take to achieve this goal, with planned investments of almost £1.5 billion over the next five years in opening new restaurants, upgrading its existing estate and creating new jobs.
Welcoming new competition.
The recent arrival of challenger brands in the fried chicken market means competition is hotting up, but Alice believes it reinforces the category’s momentum: “These new entrants show there’s still big growth potential in the UK market, so it’s actually quite exciting. Everybody loves fried chicken. It’s the fastest growing sector in quick service restaurants, and people love KFC because we were the original. We’re the reason the UK eats fried chicken. So I’m OK with the competition, it keeps us on our toes – ensures we keep giving our customers the best possible experience and the best food.”
KFC and GCW.
In a partnership spanning more than 20 years, GCW has sourced and secured scores of restaurants for KFC. For Alice, the key benefit of working with us is connections: “GCW has great relationships with landlords, investors and agents in the market. So they’ve always been able to help, and have been brilliant in letting us know about opportunities to grow. And I think these connections will be invaluable now, as we’re raising everyone’s awareness that we’re expanding across the whole of the UK and Ireland.”
A good example of a current project is a double drive-thru scheme in Ashford, Kent – for KFC and Taco Bell, another Yum! Brands business. As Alice says, “bringing drive-thrus to the South East is not an easy task at all.” We’re very happy to be helping achieve KFC’s aim of taking the brand to previously unexplored locations.
More information Simon Horner