What’s behind the fried chicken revival in Australia, according to nation’s biggest KFC operator Collins Foods

The boss of Australia’s biggest KFC operator Collins Foods believes its aggressive store rollout and menu innovations — like the Zinger Banh Mi — have sparked a renaissance for the fast-food brand in Australia. The ASX-listed company ramped up its expansion in 2025, opening eight new KFC restaurants to take its total national store network to 292. One of its most recent store openings was in Golden Bay, WA, in November. Fresh from posting record sales in the half-year, Collins Foods managing director Xavier Simonet told The Nightly “it’s not black and white” when asked what was driving the strong performance. One strategy was to continue growing in Australia and make sure the brand was accessible to its customers, he said. “(We) make sure we access customers through different channels, we’ve got, of course, our restaurant, we’ve got delivery, we’ve got the app, we’ve got the drive-thru,” Mr Simonet said. “The second (strategy) is new products. I worked in the fashion industry, it’s very similar in the food industry — customers love new products and love trying new things.” Mr Simonet pointed to KFC’s successful product launches this year, which included the Zinger kebab, Zinger Banh Mi and Sweet Tokyo teriyaki-style chicken. KFC is also trialling its new Kwench drinks range in selected restaurants. “But there’s also our focus on operational excellence in our restaurants, which means basically doing the right thing, giving the best customer experience, motivating our teams,” Mr Simonet said. In December, the company — which also operates 62 KFC in the Netherlands and 17 in Germany — revealed profit rose nearly 13 per cent to $27.2 million in the six months to October 12, as revenue grew 6.6 per cent to $750.3m. It marks a turnaround from the same time last year, when Collins Foods posted a $26m slide in profit for the first-half of the 2025 financial year to $24.1m. Mr Simonet believes consumers will always have an appetite for its fried chicken despite increased competition from major rivals like Hungry Jack’s, Domino’s Oizza, McDonald’s and Mexican-themed chain Guzman Y Gomez. Guzman reported a near-19 per cent jump in sales for the September quarter thanks to its new Caesar menu items, which included the Caesar Burrito and Caesar Cali Burrito. Meanwhile, Domino’s chair Jack Cowin revealed Domino’s would dump its heavy discounting and vouchers to focus on delivering an “everyday low price” model — similar to Bunnings’ strategy where it does not run regular promotions and instead offers consistent, competitive pricing — in a bid to revive sales. Domino’s — which operates more than 3500 stores across across Australia, New Zealand, Europe and Asia — turned a $96m profit in 2024 to a $3.7m loss in the 2025 financial year. It marked the company’s first dip into the red since listing on the ASX more than 20 years ago. “I don’t have a crystal ball but I think as long as we continue being innovative and creative, offering an interesting experience to customers and great food, we’ll stay relevant,” Mr Simonet said. “What I can say as well is chicken, which is our core category, is very appealing . . . but also it’s a healthy protein. “A lot of brands that are not in chicken are actually doing chicken or offering chicken, so the category itself is really appealing.” Additionally, Mr Simonet said there was a strong focus on Gen Z customers to make the brand appealing. “We’re quite successful at doing that,” he said. “Products, the brand, health metrics are very strong in terms of what we call the ‘buzz’.” KFC Germany was a standout performer for Collins Foods in the half-year, with same-store sales growing nearly 5 per cent. Mr Simonet — who has been in the top job for just over a year — said Germany was a “strategic market” because of its “big quick-service-restaurant market”. “We believe that we can accelerate growth and expand into Germany quickly,” he said. “(This could be through) us opening new restaurants in specific areas, but also potentially the opportunity to acquire from somebody else a network of stores and get scale more quickly.” It’s a different story for Collins Foods’ other brand, Taco Bell. The company earlier this year announced it would dump its chain of 27 Taco Bell restaurants in Australia as it struggles to compete with key rival Guzman, which cracked $1 billion in annual sales during the 2025 financial year. Collins Foods continues to have discussions with Taco Bell International to transition the business to new ownership.