KFC has closed at least 312 restaurants across the U.S. in the past year, and Florida is part of that retreat. One analysis put the state’s loss at 11 locations, even as the chain has also added stores in the Sunshine State.
That is why people are searching Colonel Sanders now: the chain is shrinking in some places, but not in a straight line, and Florida shows both sides of the count. A separate comparison found just an eight-store drop in Florida KFC locations since July 1, 2025, a smaller slide that depends on where the clock starts.
Local Falcon compared KFC’s public listing of locations from July 15, 2025, and July 6, 2026, then checked removed restaurants against Google Maps to see which ones were listed as permanently closed. The analysis found 44 permanent closures in California, 34 in Texas and 18 in Ohio. Kansas, Louisiana, Alabama and Tennessee each lost roughly an eighth of their totals.
Florida’s numbers are harder to read because the state has moved in both directions. KFC surged there in 2023, rising from 255 locations in March to 287 by Aug. 16, then stood at 281 locations by February 2025. Since that point, 12 Florida locations have closed and four have been added.
That gap matters. A loss of 11 restaurants over one comparison window and a drop of eight locations over another do not conflict so much as they show how much the answer depends on the dates being measured. In other words, Florida is not simply losing KFC stores; it is also getting some back.
For KFC, the Florida count sits inside a bigger business push that is not centered only on closures. The chain operates more than 34,000 restaurants in more than 150 countries, is testing new restaurant concepts in McKinney, Texas, and Dubai, and is launching 20 new sauces and several new beverages in overseas markets. It also brought back popcorn chicken on July 13 for a limited time.
So the immediate story is not that Colonel Sanders’ brand has abandoned Florida. It is that the chain is trimming in one set of comparisons, rebuilding in another, and leaving the real open question where the next Florida count lands once the current round of changes settles.
