KFC have partnered with Chinese internet giant Baidu to unveil a futuristic new concept store in Shanghai featuring robot waitstaff, holograms and (less futuristically) classical Chinese decor.
The Kentucky Fried Chicken concept store Original+ at the National Exhibition and Convention Centre in East Xujing (the western end of Line 2) looks just like any other KFC outlet from the outside. But step inside and you'll spot some traditional Chinese designs that look slightly out of place in a fast food restaurant. There are bamboo plants lining the walls, oriental garden stools, Chinese-style lanterns and even a moon-shaped doorway that leads to another room.
KFC was once a model for Western companies looking to launch in China, but the last few years have seen the brand hit by a number of alleged sourcing 'scares' and rumours. As the first Western fast food chain to enter China, KFC has moved to update what some have seen as a slightly tired brand image in the country in recent months and this Original+ concept store certainly offers a number of futuristic elements.
For example, a robot called Duer (Dumi in Chinese) takes your order in Mandarin, like something out of The Jetsons. Duer is Baidu’s voice-activated personal assistant, and the little robot's appearance marks the first use of artificial intelligence in KFC stores.
And Duer is pretty cute - she will smile at you when you tell her you're ready to order, before asking you questions about what you'd like to eat, and confirming whether you'd prefer to dine in or take away. Unfortunately she's not as fluent as you might hope, and only offers a choice of five set meals (ranging from 45-98RMB) plus an Americano or latte.
The store also offers more boring automatic ordering machines (of the kind seen at McDonald's stores since last year) and, for the tech-adverse, real life human beings behind a real counter who will take your order in an oh-so ordinary early 2000s kind of way. In a triumph for humanity against our future robot overlords, the real people counter offers a greater variety of food and drinks than Duer, but the menu items on offer are still the same as at other KFC branches and, if anything, the range here is more limited than the average KFC store (there's no chicken-flavoured nail polishhere, sadly).
Other high-tech novelties include phone charging stations, holograms showing off KFC products, and wireless music charging tables that play tunes from a list customised by BaiduMP3.
Although we wouldn't recommend travelling out to the end of metro Line 2 just to visit this KFC outlet - the food is still the same as at other KFCs, after all - if you're in the area, you might want to check it out for a glimpse into the future of the fast food industry - or perhaps just to try and outsmart a robot.
The Original+ KFC store is at the National Exhibition and Convention Centre, 168 Yinggang Dong Lu, near Zhuguang Lu.