KFC Montage
KFC on Bardstown Road (Louisville, KY)
A few weeks ago, I ate lunch with my friend Sean who designed the KFC “Flagship” out on Bardstown Road in Louisville. During our lunch break at work, we went out to a hardware shop for look for some tools that he needed, and on the way back we stopped there to eat. Sean used to work for Yum! brands, the company that owns Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Long John Silvers, and A&W Brands. The KFC franchise on Bardstown road is the prototype facility for all of the new KFCs going up around the world, and I received the inside scoop about the design process and construction administration.
Three Interconnected Components of A Good Restaurant:
1. Customer Service
2. Is the food good?
3. Architecture
Even at a first glance, this KFC is better looking than all the other ones you’ve seen. Vertical corrugated metal provides the exterior facade, and a system of metal louvers provide shade for the occupants inside the building. Sean told me about difficulty he had persuading Yum to use corrugated metal; the client thought it gave, “too much of an industrial look.” Sean argued that he was trying to reach a specific age range and that his targeted audience would really like the metal finish. He was right, I loved it.
Upon closer inspection, I was amazed at how much was designed. Custom door hardware was used; the KFC bucket instead of common door and panic hardware. I doubt anyone but an architect would notice, but even the control joints for the concrete were made in such a way so that they were an extension and extrusion of the building elevation itself. They were not just placed randomly as the concrete was poured.
Beautiful design - thoughtful consideration of where the joints were laid in the pouring process
Legal issues - ADA accessibilty - was not able to create proposed community outdoor eating space, even though there was already an ADA entrance on the other side of the building.
The Colonel - Redesign of his previous white jacket into a new red apron - negative connotations of a southern plantation owner - KFC Bucket now new icon.
KFC Branding
1940s Navy Chair - 3 Vertical Bars - 3 Bars of KFC Colonel Sanders
1940s U.S. Navy Chair
Customization - breaking from the standardized, being new and original vs Initial Upfront Cost
The Bucket Hardware
Electric Swapping Menu - Idea to edit menu from YUM brands headquarters - not serving the rice bowl anymore, though.
Electronic Menu on LCD monitor screens, aisles relate to chairs
Louis Kahn - “God is in the Details” - friendly wood surfaces (interior soffit) , louvers - Salk House Institute
Wooden Soffit - warm and friendly touch materials
Idea for the picnic table being the gathering place for the meals was brought indoors.
Cool chairs - plush red cubes that could be rearranged to any configuration
Wall with glass painted on the BACK side.
Beautiful art of ideas behind KFC