KFC gives fast food digital face

Yum China Holdings Inc, operator of 5,300 KFC restaurants across China, introduced its first facial-recognition ordering kiosks in a concept store named KPRO in Hangzhou featuring low-calorie menus.

The tie-up with Alipay, the country's largest mobile wallet, in commercializing such technologies underscores the ongoing digitalization push of the fast-food chain to leverage two trends: resonating with tech-savvy diners and jumping on the healthy-eating bandwagon.

With a color scheme of green and white to highlight the healthier fare, KPRO offers an assortment of made-to-order salads, paninis and roasted chicken, and is designed to cater to China's burgeoning population of urban professionals, said Joey Wat, president and chief operating officer of Yum China.