KFC Closes Over 300 U.S. Restaurants as Fried Chicken Competition Intensifies

The fast-food fried chicken market remains one of the most competitive corners of the restaurant industry. Chick-fil-A has held a market-leading position, Popeyes has competed with its once-viral chicken sandwich, and Raising Cane's has expanded rapidly on the strength of a devoted fanbase and a deliberately simple menu. Chick-fil-A has sustained that lead even while keeping all of its restaurants closed on Sundays, a policy set by its founder, S. Truett Cathy.

Differentiating a product in that environment is difficult, and the category's growth has been cooling. The chicken segment grew 5.3% in 2025, down from 9.1% in 2024 and more than 12% in 2023, according to Technomic data shared with Nation's Restaurant News.

"Last year, the category was especially impacted by slowing momentum for the biggest players. Chick-fil-A's sales grew 5.2% year-over-year, compared to 5.4% in 2024, for instance," NRN reported.

Two of the biggest names in the segment actually lost ground.

"Popeyes' sales fell 0.5% in 2025, versus 3.9% growth in 2024. KFC had a tough 2025, with sales down 4.6%, while in 2024, its sales were down 5.2%," the data showed.

That is a steep decline over a two-year period for KFC, and it helps explain why the chain has been closing locations.

KFC has closed 300 stores in a year

While much of the attention has centered on KFC's former sister brand Pizza Hut, which Yum Brands sold in June, the chicken brand has also been struggling — though it has recently shown signs of a significant turnaround.

The slump is largely a home-market problem: Yum Brands, whose portfolio also includes Taco Bell and Habit Burger, still counts KFC among its largest brands, and the chain operates in more than 100 countries, where its unit count has kept growing even as its American footprint shrinks.

"KFC delivered 6% system sales growth driven by 7% unit growth and 2% same-store sales growth. Around the world, KFC teams are advancing our Raise the B.A.R. priorities, beginning with improving menu relevance," Yum Brands CEO Christopher Turner said during the chain's second-quarter earnings call.

Closing underperforming stores can also improve a chain's overall sales performance by removing weaker locations.

"An analysis of KFC finds that at least 312 of its U.S. restaurants have permanently closed between July 15, 2025, and July 6, 2026, a 7.64% reduction in the size of the chain's American footprint," according to Local Falcon.

Local Falcon, a local AI search visibility platform, compared KFC's public store locator at the start and end of the period. Each restaurant listing that had been removed and returned a 404 error was then independently verified against Google Maps.

KFC needs an identity boost

Part of KFC's struggle stems from rivals such as Chick-fil-A, Popeyes, and Raising Cane's having staked out distinctive brand positions — something KFC has abandoned, according to RTM Nexus CEO Dominik Miserandino. It is a notable slide for a brand whose founder, Colonel Harland Sanders, began franchising his seasoned fried chicken in the 1950s and remains the face of the chain today.

"For decades, KFC relied on a legacy model: selling heavy, family-sized buckets of bone-in chicken for dinner. But consumer habits shifted fast toward portable, single-serve convenience," he told TheStreet.

That shift allowed other chains to usurp KFC's market-leading position.

"Chick-fil-A dominated that shift by perfecting drive-thru speed, customer service, and the classic chicken sandwich. Then Popeyes swooped in and proved you could deliver high-flavor, premium-tier fried chicken with speed and scale," he added.

The gap was also one of brand connection and anticipating what customers wanted.

"While Chick-fil-A and Popeyes built fanatical followings, KFC stayed stuck in the past with slow, complex bucket meals and outdated stores. By the time KFC tried to pivot to chicken sandwiches and nuggets, the category leaders had already locked up consumer loyalty. KFC got squeezed into the background because they treated chicken like a Sunday family dinner while their competitors treated it like a fast, daily habit," he shared.

KFC has made changes

Turner has been leading a turnaround effort at KFC that includes a visual reboot of restaurants as well as the launch of the Saucy sister brand. Lessons learned from the fledgling chain are being applied to the flagship brand. Saucy, which opened its first locations in Florida, is built around chicken tenders and a broad lineup of dipping sauces — the same product territory KFC is now upgrading at its flagship.

"If you think about battling for the future consumer, just a couple of months ago, we introduced the new brand visual identity. You're going to be seeing that come to life in our imaging and as the brand presents itself around the globe," he said.

Turner also promised improvements to the chain's food.

"You've heard us talk about leveraging the learnings from Saucy to improve our tender formulation. We're going to have larger tenders, more craveable tenders. We're bringing the range of sauces, dips, drips and, sorry, sauces, dips and rubs to life to give more flavors to our consumers," he added.

Restaurant consultant Jeffrey Summers wrote on LinkedIn that KFC has gone from seven consecutive quarters of negative same-store sales to back-to-back positive quarters, while cautioning that the improvement remains modest.

"The turnaround required: a new president, a new CMO, a new chief growth officer, a national campaign admitting failure, the return of Potato Wedges, a viral social media moment, a tiered value architecture borrowed from Taco Bell, and two years of work," he posted.

That effort brought the chain a 1% gain in same-store sales.

"I am not saying that to diminish what Catherine Tan-Gillespie and her team accomplished. Turning a $5 billion brand with 3,500 locations is genuinely hard work. The admission that Colonel Sanders would not be happy about where the brand had gone was honest and brave and it worked," he added. Tan-Gillespie leads KFC's U.S. business.

KFC still faces a challenging market, however.

"The total number of chicken chain locations has surged by 46% over the last decade, reflecting a net increase of nearly 6,200 units — a market response to a clear demand for the protein," NRN reported.

The markers of whether KFC's turnaround holds are readily observable: whether U.S. same-store sales extend their streak of gains, whether the pace of closures slows, and how quickly the refreshed brand identity and larger tenders reach restaurants.

This story was originally published by TheStreet on Aug. 22, 2026, where it first appeared in the Restaurants section.