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

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]