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There Are No Buckets of Chicken at KFC’s Newest Restaurant

The chain is going healthy in China

Sohu

KFC’s newest restaurant doesn’t quite adhere to its usual “finger lickin’ good” parameters: Called K Pro, the new concept was unveiled earlier this month in Hangzhou, China, Shanghaiist reports, and there’s nary a bucket of fried chicken nor a Colonel Sanders mascot in sight.

Instead, K Pro serves fresh juices, salads, and panini with proteins like shrimp, smoked salmon, or grilled chicken — no Double Downs here, though as Kotaku notes there is soft-serve ice cream and sweet potato fries. The airy, hip-looking restaurant is decked out with fresh flowers and greenery, and employee uniforms eschew the usual red and white color scheme in favor of a leafy green, with aprons bearing the words “Tasty, Fresh, Healthy.”

Sohu
Sohu
Sohu

China represents a huge market for KFC parent company Yum: The company has more than 7,000 restaurants across the country, mostly under the KFC and Pizza Hut brands. But Yum has struggled in China in recent years thanks to a major food safety scandal and rumormongering that KFC was serving mutant chicken, leading it to spin its Chinese arm off into a separate entity that has experimented with technology like robot cashiers and face-recognition software.

KFC Just Opened a New ‘Healthy’ Location in Hangzhou [Shanghaiist]
KFC in Shanghai Is Now Staffed by Robots [E]