Fast-food chicken giant KFC in Northern Ireland has announced a £5m investment and 120 new jobs in an expansion including a new drive-thru restaurant for Glengormley.
The new venue, which is being opened by franchisee Herbert Group, replaces the existing Glengormley restaurant, which has been there for 36 years.
Herbert Group is the UK’s biggest franchisee for KFC, with 160 restaurants in England, the Republic and Scotland. It has 33 restaurants here, with around 1,000 staff.
It’s spending £2m on the new Glengormley venue at 263 Antrim Road. The new venue will have the latest touch-screen technology and an 80-seater customer area, and bring 20 new jobs to the area.
But a spokesman said it’s also to spend another £3m on home delivery, so that it’s able to provide home delivery in all restaurants from next year – a move that will create 100 new jobs as restaurants expand to meet demand.
The restaurant uses online delivery services Deliveroo and Just Eat for delivery to homes from some restaurants.
A spokesman said: “This is an exciting time for The Herbert Group as we move into 2019 with a further £10m being spent across England opening a new unit every eight weeks as part of our commercial strategy.”
He said that as a result, Herbert Group would also expand its head office team in south Belfast.
The new Antrim Road restaurant in Glengormley, which is on a site formerly occupied by supermarket Lidl, is replacing the existing KFC on Antrim Road. The old restaurant is to stay open until the new one is ready for trading next year.
The plans for the new KFC have been brought forward by Kirk Bryson Ltd, a company linked to Herbert Group. Plans have also been lodged for development at another part of the site, though work is yet to begin. There are plans for the construction of nine homes, along with another drive-through restaurant.
Planning permission was granted by Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council in May after both sets of plans were lodged by Kirk Bryson Ltd. Coogan & Co Architects is the company associated with the applications.
Herbert Group is the biggest KFC franchisee in Europe, with 160 restaurants. The KFC company is owned by Yum Brands, the $29bn US-listed food giant which also owns Pizza Hut. Last week, Yum said that KFC had delivered 3% growth in same-store sales in the third quarter, compared to the same period in 2017.