When the clock counted down to midnight this past New Year’s Eve in Marietta, Ga., it wasn’t a big ball that dropped from above. It was a big chicken. Specifically, The Big Chicken.
The Big Chicken, a 56-foot-tall corrugated steel fowl, was built in 1963 to attract diners to Johnny Reb’s Chick, Chuck and Steak. In 1974, the chain—then known as Kentucky Fried Chicken—took over the one and only Big Chicken. In the years since, it has become a community icon and a navigational beacon in the area.
In May, KFC franchisee KBP Foods, which runs about 450 of the fried chicken quick-service restaurants across the country and purchased The Big Chicken store in 2011, completed its $2.2 million remodel of The Big Chicken, in hopes of turning the local landmark into a full-blown tourist destination.
“Before we remodeled, it performed better than a regular KFC,” says Anthony Gianino, vice president of marketing for KBP, citing the site’s roadside-attraction factor. “Now, it performs considerably better than a regular KFC. It’s one of the higher-volume [units] in the country.” (KBP won’t release sales figures, but KFC reported average unit volume of nearly $1.1 million in 2016.)
To accommodate the crush of traffic from locals and tourists alike, the kitchen was redesigned to minimize the number of steps an employee must take between packaging an order and bringing it to the service counter. Walk-in coolers and refrigerator space were also expanded, and the unit was outfitted with high-capacity breaders and pressure fryers, unique within the chain.
These updates, along with other operational efficiencies, have shaved about 30 seconds off total order time, says Gianino. And they’ve allowed KBP to double the number of employees working inside the 4,731-square-foot store.
A typical KFC sees 60%-70% of traffic from the drive-thru lane, with the rest dine-in. With the revamp, those numbers are reversed at The Big Chicken. The remodel allowed for 98 seats in the main dining room, with an additional 68 chairs split over two new outdoor seating areas. To speed the drive-thru process, an employee with a POS-enabled iPad now takes orders directly from customers in their cars outside.
“We’ve doubled the capacity in the restaurant for what we can do,” Gianino says.
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