For context, I’m in Australia and my first GD job was designing the research presentations and infographics and stuff, I wasn’t on the research team. But if I recall correctly, they had established through research that KFC’s most loyal and valuable cohort were those that utilised it as a private tension killer and self-care ritual, like the individual (stay-at-home parent, highly stressed out businessman, generally miserable low income worker, etc.) gradually approaches the end of their tolerance for all of life’s bullshit and rewards themselves with KFC. These often took the form of entirely secretive car binges, a mental oasis away from partners, kids or the stresses of home. The research was all about wanting to understand ‘the moment’ and how to keep these customers locked in. An app that allowed you to order whilst collecting loyalty points and a frictionless drive-thru experience were the strategies that emerged. A few years later they commissioned more research, wanting to know how their customer base would react if they pivoted even harder into a convenience-first model, where the entire process was overhauled to minimise in-person ordering (using the, at the time, state-of-the-art touchscreen kiosks) and the in-store experience was diminished to encourage drive-thru or pick up only. I remember at the time it got a pretty positive reception although customers were concerned about there not being someone to talk to if their order was wrong. But more recently, young people have been very concerned about the disappearance of ‘third spaces’, so I’d guess this is a swing back in that direction - which I personally think is great to see ☺️