KFC to return to central Christchurch

Friday, 29 March 2019

A concept image of a new KFC store planned for Colombo St near Hereford St in central Christchurch.

Fans of the Colonel's secret herbs and spices will soon be able to get their fried chicken fix in downtown Christchurch.

A new KFC restaurant, due to open in early 2020, is planned for Colombo St near the corner of Hereford St.

It will share the Hereford St block with BurgerFuel, Pita Pit and Wendy's, while Hell Pizza and Turkish kebab shop is one block to the east.

While hospitality has been booming in the region, the major fast food franchises, which lost buildings in the Christchurch earthquakes, have shown hesitation in returning to the CBD until now.

* Finger-lickin' confessions of a middle-class KFC addict**

Before the quakes, KFC, McDonald's and Burger King all had outlets on the block of Colombo St where the new KFC is going, but concerns over the volume of foot traffic and the impracticality of drive-thrus in the CBD had kept them away until now.

The 'urban-style' store will offer open-plan seating, digital ordering kiosks and table service.

According to the resource consent application, KFC is planning to build a nine metre tall building on the 274 square metre site, and is hoping to operate the restaurant 24 hours a day, seven days a week. KFC would not confirm the planned operating hours.

The site's owner, Gordon Chamberlain, will build the restaurant then lease it to Restaurant Brands.

Restaurant Brands marketing general manager Geraldine Oldham said the company was 'really excited to reintroduce KFC to Christchurch CBD'.

Chris Wilkinson, managing director of retail commercial strategists First Retail Group, said KFC going ahead with a central city store was 'signalling a greater confidence in the city'.

He said businesses like KFC were 'long game players' and would be intending to capitalise on future growth

'What we're seeing now is a lot of the businesses that are going into Christchurch have got that long game perspective … generally this is a very good sign for Christchurch.'

He said KFC's build may start up a wider cluster of fast food restaurants setting up in the area.

Wilkinson said fast food businesses attracted consistent trade across a wide range of demographics , and would be really useful in terms of customers spilling over to other businesses in the area.

Councillor Deon Swiggs said it was good to see a more diverse offering coming back to the central city.

He said it was the type of thing the CBD was missing, and would bring a different type of person into the area.

KFC's move has not spurred the golden arches into action: McDonald's spokesman Simon Kenny said the company continued to assess the CBD and when it would be the right time to develop a restaurant on their Colombo St site, but had no plans to at this stage.

He said McDonald's opened four new restaurants around Christchurch last year, at a cost of about $20m, with the chosen sites allowing services such as a drive-thru, playgrounds, and a McCafe.

Burger King marketing general manager James Woodbridge said Burger King 'don't have any plans for central Christchurch that we can talk about at this stage'.

There are currently eight KFC outlets in Christchurch.