KFC UKI Celebrates Employees | At Home Edition

As it was for all of our markets around the world, 2020 was a year like no other for KFC UK & Ireland. The UK & Ireland business has had a long-standing tradition of annual awards to celebrate its franchisees, its Restaurant Support Center employees, and its RGMs. This year, the business had to get creative though about how they could create a meaningful awards and recognition experience despite lockdowns and social distancing. Claire G. shares how they were successfully able to bring this to life in her recap below:

Our Franchise and RSC Awards were all about celebrating 2020 together, but apart. Our mission was to take these events virtual without losing the fun, sizzle and WOW factor that our KFC parties are known for – because no one throws a party like the Colonel! There was food – even though guests had to cook it themselves, there was wine and we didn’t have to share about it, and there was dancing – because no one was watching!

The Franchise Awards were attended by 200 people and the RSC Awards were attended by 300 people. A four-course gala dinner with wine and cocktails was delivered to guest’s houses courtesy of our friends at Social Pantry. There wasn’t a virtual event platform on the market that met all of our needs, so we created one in just for weeks (!!!) with our events partners that enabled the live stream with interactive features and breakout rooms etc. (I know when I describe it, it kind of sounds a bit like zoom – but it’s not!).

We had magicians and a roaming band drop in and out of breakouts which we used as virtual dinner tables so people still had that shared experience of eating the same meal together. We also had hip hop musical improv act Abandoman headline the entertainment at both events. We even did our own rendition of ‘Stay another day’ by East 17 and got into the 2020 fashion of ‘top dressing.’ Finally, a gospel choir serenaded our world class operators of the year (although they were pitchy ha!). We celebrated so many awards but the biggies were World Class operator – Caskade, RSC Person of the Year – Tom Newham and Equity RGM of the Year – Reza Shamim.

It goes without saying that our RGMs also worked incredibly hard, delivering astounding results – so we couldn’t let it pass without recognising them in some way – which is why we came up with “RGM Fest | At Home Edition.” It’s safe to say this wasn’t our usual type of Fest, as there really is no substitute for bringing Team KFC together in person, but although it wasn’t our usual glitz, glam, confetti cannons, throwing shapes like a mother clucker kind of fest, “The one where we stayed at home” was still one to remember for us. 



1600 KFCers including RGMs, Above Restaurant Leaders and suppliers attended the event – our biggest ever turnout (a silver lining to virtual!) and we sent all of those guests a pre-event pack containing everything they needed to enjoy the event - from nibbles to KFC merch. We shared an update on our 1000-day growth plan and recognised our award winners including our incredible Champions Club and RGM of the Year. The Colonel even made a special appearance to announce the final award of the afternoon.

We raised over £7K for the KFC Foundation and gave out £60K in prize money to our six solid gold incentive winners – awarded for their guest experience performance. And a fun fact – over 60,000 emojis were used on the platform in under two hours – that’s a lot of love!!

Check out video recaps of each of the events here:
RSC Awards: https://vimeo.com/530784843/43feced248

Franchise Awards: https://vimeo.com/530747445/5994f0b19c

RGM Fest: https://vimeo.com/530241948/49c4b3e41f