Gastronomy opened its 50th KFC restaurant on Monday 14 September 2026, at Hazledine Park in Meole Brace, in the town where the franchisee has kept its head office since the 1990s. The drive-thru created 38 jobs and takes the group’s estate to 82 sites across Wales, the Midlands and the North West.
Gastronomy is one of the larger KFC franchisees in the country and one of the least visible. Chief executive Acky Khan opened his first KFC in 1996 with savings from driving a minicab in east London, then bought six restaurants in 2006, five on the North Wales coast and one in Shrewsbury.
The group now runs 50 KFC restaurants and 32 Starbucks stores, 82 sites in total, from a head office at Battlefield on the edge of Shrewsbury. Around 95% of the KFC estate in the UK is operated by franchisees, one of the highest proportions among the fast food franchises recruiting in the UK.
Inside the Hazledine Park site
The restaurant sits on a new retail development built on a former pitch and putt course off Oteley Road, close to Shrewsbury Town’s stadium, and opened alongside a Starbucks on the same park. It runs to roughly 960 sq ft with 68 covers, dedicated drive-thru lanes and parking set aside for delivery riders.
The 38 roles created cover team members, team leaders and management. Shrewsbury MP Julia Buckley attended the opening, and Khan singled out the developer, Morris Property, and the position of the park when asked what drew the group to the site.
Thirty years from cook to 50 restaurants
Khan’s first job with the brand was behind the fryers. “I’ve been with KFC for more than 30 years. I worked part-time as a cook when I was still in school during my O-levels and A-levels,” he told the Express and Star. On the milestone itself, Acky Khan, chief executive and founder of Gastronomy, said: “We’re incredibly proud to be opening our 50th KFC restaurant here in our hometown of Shrewsbury. It’s a huge moment for everyone at Gastronomy and for the teams who have helped us grow from our first restaurant almost 30 years ago to where we are today.”
Rob Swain, UK general manager of KFC, said: “Our franchisees are fundamental to KFC’s growth, and Gastronomy is a brilliant example of what ambitious local operators can achieve. From one restaurant to 50, Acky and his team have continued to invest, create jobs and grow alongside us.”
What the KFC route asks of a new operator
Gastronomy’s arc is the one KFC puts in front of candidates, and the entry point today is set well above where Khan started. KFC UK recruits franchisees by enquiry only and publishes a requirement of £5 million in assets, of which £2 million liquid, alongside existing hospitality or food and drink operating experience and an appetite for multiple sites, figures far above the range set out in what it costs to open a franchise in the UK, where the BFA puts the mean total investment at around £85,000. A network can be almost entirely franchised, as KFC’s is, and still be closed to anyone building from a single unit.
Good to know
There is no franchise register in the UK and no statutory disclosure document, so a network’s size and its entry requirements are whatever the franchisor publishes about itself. Companies House records the operating company, its directors and its accounts. It does not record how many outlets are franchised.
The next 50
Gastronomy has set out a plan to double the KFC portfolio to 100 restaurants by 2030, which would mean a rate of openings well above anything the group has managed in its first three decades. The Starbucks side of the business, at 32 stores, gives it a second brand to grow in the same territory, the multi-brand approach several coffee franchises recruiting in the UK are built around.
Shrewsbury now carries the head office, the 50th restaurant and a new Starbucks on the same retail park, which makes the town a useful marker for whether that pace holds. Operators starting from a single unit rather than an existing estate can compare entry terms across the UK franchise directory.
