KFC announced Wednesday the launch of Saucy, a new spinoff concept focused primarily on sauces, chicken tenders, and a variety of creative beverages. The unit is scheduled to debut on December 23 in Orlando.
The store features 11 sauces—a nod to KFC’s 11 herbs & spices—that can be ordered individually or in a flight of four, alongside hand-breaded and fried chicken tenders that are made to order.
The 11 sauces are Chimichurri Ranch, Peri Peri Ranch, Jalapeno Pesto Ranch, Smokey Bacon Ranch, Thai Sweet ‘N Spicy, Sweet ‘N Saucy BBQ, Saucy’s Sauce, Spicy Mango Chutney, Saucy Ranch, Creole Honey Mustard, and Sweet Teriyaki.
“Everyone is obsessed with sauce – more is more,” KFC chief new concept officer Christophe Poirier said in a statement. “With Saucy, we’ve taken KFC’s famous Original Recipe and amplified it with a brand-new concept that lets consumers play with flavor. You can pick a combo, choose a flight of sauces or, my personal favorite, mix sauces and sides to create your perfect meal. We’re sauce people, not math people, but we tried to calculate it and there seems to be over 4,000 different ways you could order at Saucy and have a different flavor experience every time.”
Saucy also offers an EZ Crispy Sandwich, Spicy Queso Crunch Sandwich, toasted Hawaiian rolls, crinkle cut fries, chocolate mousse cake, and key lime cake.
The food can be paired with a mix of classic and flavor-filled beverages, including Passion Fruit + Orange + Guava Refresher, Hot Honey Watermelon Refresher, Peach-Mango Lemonade, Peach-Mango Lemonade Freeze, Blue Raspberry Freeze, Tropical Black Tea, and Classic Iced Tea.
A three-piece tender combo with a roll, fries, medium drink, and sauce costs $7.99.
The restaurant has kiosk ordering and a mobile order pickup station in the dining room and a drive-thru lane. Saucy plans to offer live entertainment to encourage guests to dine inside.
The prototype also features technology that takes real-world data and runs simulations to inform how to make tenders as hot and fresh as possible. Also, the Saucy app has 20 points of personalization to account for customer preferences, KFC said.
“Saucy is unlike anything else in the market, and the experience it provides is in a class of its own,” Poirier said. “Being sauce-focused allows us to be as creative as we want. Saucy is debuting with these 11 sauces, but we envision limited-edition sauces, trend-inspired sauces and sauces created in response to changing taste buds. Tell us what you want to see next! When you’ve already mastered great chicken, the sauce gets to be the fun part.”
KFC said more Saucy locations are planned for the future.
The announcement comes not long after sister brand Taco Bell opened Live Más Café in Chula Vista, California. The drink-focused concept aims to “disrupt the beverage industry with a Taco Bell twist,” the company said.
