KFC applies storytelling to packaging redesigns featuring modernized red and white stripes

31 May 2021 --- Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) is evolving its retail packaging with a “more modern” redesign of its signature red and white stripes.

A re-illustration of the brand ambassador Colonel Sanders is also featured prominently on the fast-food restaurant’s paper tubs, cups, meal boxes and bags.

To whet customers’ appetites post-purchase, the new packaging displays the brand’s iconic Finger Lickin’ Good slogan as well as reheating instructions – “because KFC’s fried chicken is just as good the next day.”

Meanwhile, the brand’s iconic bucket recounts the history of KFC’s fried chicken, “told in a way only the Colonel could,” says the company. The new packaging will roll out early this summer in the US.

Innova Market Insights led its top 2020 F&B trends with “Storytelling: Winning With Words.” The market researcher underscored a growing consumer affinity for products backed by a compelling narrative.

KFC’s new modernized packaging design will debut in US restaurants this summer.Green pressure from investors
KFC’s updated packaging is “a step forward” in balancing business growth and environmental sustainability, states the company.

The restaurant will offer fully certified paperboard from either the Sustainable Forestry Initiative or Forest Stewardship Council.

Moreover, four of KFC’s new packaging items are approved for labeling by How2Recycle, while 37 percent of its plastic packaging is considered reusable or recyclable.

Global investors are pressuring quick-service restaurants to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Five out of six fast-food brands managing over 100,000 restaurants worldwide are setting ambitious science-based targets aligned with the UN Paris Agreement’s primary goal to keep global warming below 2°C.

The brand owners include McDonald’s, Yum! Brands – owner of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell – Chipotle, Domino’s and Wendy’s, up from just two brands last year (McDonald’s and Yum! Brands).

KFC’s previous consumer-facing packaging.Modernizing for the digital age
The KFC redesign follows similar fast food pack-revamps from Burger King and McDonald’s earlier this year. Minimalist designs support quick-service restaurants’ ambitions to become more digital-friendly, as consumers have been ordering home deliveries online more since the pandemic outbreak.

In a move to reposition itself as “less synthetic and artificial,” Burger King rebranded its logo and packaging for the first time since 1999. The quick-service restaurant also tested plastic alternatives to its fast-food packaging in Miami, US, eyeing a 2022 national rollout.

Simultaneously, McDonald’s modernized its restaurant packaging with minimalist graphical representations of corresponding menu items that reduce on-pack messaging. The overall goal was to provide a positive emotional experience, while creating a more consistent customer experience worldwide.

By Anni Schleicher