KFC accelerates its growth in Florence with a new restaurant

KFC plans to open a new restaurant in Piazza della Libertà in mid-December, adding a third location in Florence after I Gigli (opened in 2018) and Largo Alinari near Santa Maria Novella. The site is under the porticoes between Porta San Gallo and the Arco dei Lorena.

The company says the opening will create 35 jobs. These are in addition to the roughly 25 positions at I Gigli and about 30 at Largo Alinari. According to KFC, the new restaurant will cover about 400 square metres across three floors, with around 70 indoor seats and up to 60 more outdoors in the porticoed area of the square.

KFC, part of the U.S.-based Yum! Brands group, entered the Italian market in 2014. It now reports 137 restaurants across 16 regions, most of them franchised, and a workforce of roughly 3,000 employees. The company says its 2024 turnover reached €179 million.

Management describes the Piazza della Libertà site as intended for residents, families, commuters and university students, in contrast to the more tourist-oriented location beside Santa Maria Novella station. The square is a major traffic junction on the viali di circonvallazione, the ring roads designed in the 19th century by Giuseppe Poggi, and it is served by the tram line linking the outskirts with the city centre and the university area.

The company also points to wider plans for Tuscany, where it currently operates eight restaurants. These include an expansion of both franchised and company-run outlets and the possible introduction of drive-through formats, which are not yet present in the region. KFC says it intends to explore sites that are easy to access by car.

Ahead of the opening, the company says work on the Piazza della Libertà site is ongoing and that it hopes to build ties with nearby long-established cafés and other local businesses once the restaurant begins trading.

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