Restaurant franchisee KFC is closing to undergo a major refurbishment.

Mahi Islam, the general manager, said when it reopens it will employ between 45 and 50 staff, nearly double the number who work there now.

The work, which will be carried out by local construction firm Greymane, will see KFC, on Queen Street in Hamilton, closing on Sunday and scheduled to reopen in June.

According to Mr Islam, under the terms of its franchise, KFC, which opened in Bermuda in 1975, has to carry out a major refurbishment every ten years.

“Every five years we do a cosmetic renovation and another one after ten years which is a major renovation, so this is the ten years. It was meant to be last year but because of Covid it was delayed,” Mr Islam said.

He said the renovation would give the restaurant “a totally new look” and among the changes will be kiosks where guests can self-order, rather like a supermarket self-checkout kiosk.

Mr Islam said the menu would remain the same but he added that they were trying to get hot wings back, although any new items would depend on what KFC’s head office said.

Asked how much the work was going to cost, he said he did not have the figure but that “it would be very expensive” because structural work was involved as well as back-of-house work, such as a new lift.

Mr Islam said that the restaurant employed between 25 and 30 staff, but it would need between 45 and 50 when it reopened.