It's very hot in the Kentucky Fried Chicken area, the leading fried chicken brand in the world. Two openings, both today, July 3, feature the Colonel Sanders brand in Italy. The first inauguration is that of the restaurant inside the Milan Bergamo Airport, one of the busiest hubs in the whole of Northern Italy. The second "new strategic opening" in Santa Maria Novella, the main railway station in Florence, as well as one of the nine Top stations of the Italian Railway Network, with more than 45 thousand travellers in transit every day.

In fact, these are two openings that confirm the appeal of travel retail (bars, restaurants, locations in stations, airports and highways) in Italy, as confirmed by Thomas Mari , head of Development KFC in Italy. “The travel sector - the manager underlines - has always been synonymous with fun, relaxation and lightheartedness, and shares the same key values that have represented KFC's identity since the beginning. Thanks to the new opening at Milan Bergamo Airport, KFC is now even closer to both Italians traveling for pleasure or work, and to foreign tourists in transit throughout Northern Italy. The choice of Orio al Serio airport, in a strategic position between Milan, Bergamo and Verona, directly on the A4 Turin-Venice highway, confirms KFC's intention to continue investing in the airport segment, given the success of the Fiumicino restaurant”.

With the inauguration of Orio al Serio, the brand, which boasts 126 restaurants in Italy and an annual turnover of 179 million euros in 2024, aims to grow further in the travel channel, already served with a point of sale in the Roman airport of Fiumicino, to which are added seven signs in the largest Italian railway stations: Milan Central, Venice Santa Lucia, Bologna Central, Genoa Brignole, Rome Tiburtina, Florence Santa Maria Novella and Bari Central.

The numbers achieved by Milan Bergamo Airport, in fact considered one of the three airports belonging to Milan together with Linate and Malpensa, also confirm the business expectations: in 2024 the airport reached the record quota of 17 million passengers in one year, receiving the attribution of level 1 of the certification relating to customer management, after having been awarded for two consecutive years (in 2021 and 2022) by ACI World as the best airport in the category between 5 and 15 million passengers. Thanks to the excellence in the services offered, but also to the wide network of connections that during the 2024 summer programming offered 154 destinations in 42 countries.

The KFC restaurant at Milan Bergamo Airport is managed in franchising by Original Bucket, which owns 35 restaurants of the brand, especially in northern Italy. The new location, which creates 25 new jobs, is located in via Aeroporto 13, in the arrival area of the buses and motorways, in front of exit number 1 of the airport terminal, near the underpass that connects the airport to the OrioCenter shopping center. It has a 200 square meter internal room and a 100 square meter external room, for a total of 100 seats. The location will be open every day from 5.30 to 22.30: inside there is also a Café area.

Inauguration, we were saying, also in Florence, at the Santa Maria Novella station. The restaurant, managed in franchising by Just in Food srl, is located inside the station, in largo Fratelli Alinari 1, a few steps from the Basilica from which it takes its name and less than a kilometer from the Duomo and the other artistic beauties of the Tuscan capital. For the leading fried chicken brand in the world, this is also the first opening in the heart of the city.

"Thanks to the new opening in the Santa Maria Novella station - emphasizes Corrado Cagnola CEO of KFC in Italy - we can be even closer to both Italians traveling and foreign tourists arriving to visit Florence, Tuscany and its beauties". The new restaurant is the sixth for KFC in Tuscany: the others, three of which are directly managed, are located in Campi Bisenzio (I Gigli shopping center), Livorno (Piazza Grande), Siena (Galleria Porta Siena), Prato (Parco Prato Shopping Center) and Arezzo (Arezzo Shopping Center).

The opening of the restaurant in the Florence station generates 35 new jobs: it is specifically structured to quickly serve a high flow of customers, including many foreign tourists. The restaurant, with 100 seats, is set up for take away and for a short stop as a dine in, with a slightly smaller format to maximize service.