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<p>In the world of food, the main course has always taken center stage. But now, sauces are getting a serious glow-up. No longer the afterthought tucked into to-go bags or squeezed on as a finishing touch, dips have entered the spotlight, fueling menu innovation, inviting personalization and turning everyday meals into bold, flavor-forward experiences that consumers are craving. Whether it’s dunking, drizzling or full-on smothering, one thing is clear: sauce isn’t just a sidekick anymore, it’s the star.</p>
<p>And Yum! Brands, the world’s largest restaurant company, has taken notice, especially when <a href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/taste/2025/04/15/byo-condiments-sauces-trend-in-restaurants-driven-by-gen-z-and-millennials" >34% of U.S.-based consumers say that sauces are a deciding factor when choosing a restaurant</a>. Across KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and Habit Burger & Grill, sauces are emerging as a strategic lever to drive menu innovation and meet evolving preferences. As taste trends increasingly skew toward more heat, sweet and unexpected mashups, Yum! is staying ahead of the curve and using dips in every form to give consumers what they crave most: flavor with a twist.</p>
<p><strong>Why everyone is hitting the sauce</strong></p>
<p>The reason why sauces are front and center, Pizza Hut Global Chief Food Innovation Officer Rachel Antalek says, is because of their versatility.</p>
<p>“If I order a Pesto Margherita Pizza for a group, there’s a chance one ingredient may be a bit too polarizing for someone.” said Antalek. “But if I order a cheese pizza and a variety of sauces, then we’ve just created multiple flavor profiles unique to each person’s tastebuds.”</p>
<p>Pizza Hut has the data to back this up. In January, it released its second U.S.-based <a href="https://blog.pizzahut.com/pizza-hut-releases-second-annual-pizza-trends-report-unveiling-americas-love-of-pizza-and-2025-industry-forecasting/" >Pizza Trends Report</a> and found that over half (58%) of respondents claimed they prefer to dip their pizza into sauces, with ranch reigning supreme (38%) as the most popular pizza-dipping sauce. To capitalize on this finding, the brand launched the Cheesy Bites Pizza with a Ranch Lover’s Flight featuring Chipotle Ranch, Ultimate Ranch and Pepperoni Ranch.</p>
<p>“People become attached to their favorites and protest if you change their flavors,” she said. “But sauces serve as a fun, welcome addition that our customers can play with to create new taste combinations—and by seeing which ones they gravitate toward, we can start to understand how taste preferences are evolving and even use those insights to guide future menu innovation.”</p>
<p><strong>The OG of sauces</strong></p>
<p>While many restaurants are just now experimenting with dips, KFC has long offered sauce pairings. In fact, when Colonel Sanders launched his iconic chicken bucket almost 70 years ago, he included with his Original Recipe chicken a side of warm gravy for dipping.</p>
<p>And Habit Burger & Grill has used its sauces to deliver craft, care and quality for decades. Known for its selections like house-made Signature Ranch, Spicy Red Pepper Sauce, BBQ, Sweet Mustard and Teriyaki, each sauce has been thoughtfully developed to complement its chargrilled menu and align with consumers’ growing demand for clean-label ingredients and elevated fast-casual experiences.</p>
<p><img src="/wps/wcm/connect/yumbrands/3456ab14-6fd0-4f61-9225-45a126bd5386/1/Habit+sauces.jpg?MOD=AJPERES" alt="" title="" style="width: 314px; height: 307px; margin: 0px auto; display: block;" /></p>
<p><br /></p>
<p>“We treat sauces just like we treat grilling—with patience, precision, and pride,” said Jason Triail, Director, Culinary Innovation at Habit Burger & Grill. “It’s all about building flavor that feels a little unexpected, like the slow burn of our Spicy Red Pepper Sauce or the cool, creamy hit of our house-made Ranch. A great sauce should make you stop mid-bite and go, ‘Whoa, what is <em>that</em>?’”</p>
<p>At Taco Bell, its iconic sauce packets have become part of the brand's personality. Since the mid-1980s, Taco Bell’s sauces have offered fans a way to customize flavor and heat-level with every bite. The addition of witty sayings, known as wisdoms, in 2004 brought even more character to the packets, turning them into collectible, shareable moments that reflect the brand’s playful voice, and in 2024, the brand expanded its lineup to include Avocado Verde Salsa, among other flavors, to offer a larger variety of flavor profiles.</p>
<p><img src="/wps/wcm/connect/yumbrands/3456ab14-6fd0-4f61-9225-45a126bd5386/2/Taco_Bell-main_image-v1-us+%281%29.jpg?MOD=AJPERES" alt="" title="" style="width: 478px; height: 258px; margin: 0px auto; display: block;" /></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Perfect pairing: boneless chicken and sauce</strong></p>
<p>With the increased popularity of boneless chicken, both KFC and Taco Bell are upping their sauce game.</p>
<p>“Pushing the boundaries of flavor is part of our DNA and shows up across our entire menu,” said Taco Bell Chief Food Innovation Officer Liz Matthews. “Our goal has always been to create the right sauces that transform our crispy chicken nuggets into a memorable and craveable experience where double dipping is inevitable.”</p>
<p>The return of the brand’s Crispy Chicken Nuggets in April arrived with a trio of sauces: Bell Sauce, which is a tangy signature blend of tomatoes and red chiles, Jalapeño Honey Mustard and Hidden Valley™ Fire Ranch. These pairings were the result of extensive restaurant testing, which helped the brand fine-tune flavors and gauge consumer enthusiasm for dipping-forward offerings. In May, the lineup got even hotter (and sweeter) with the addition of Mike’s Hot Honey Diablo Sauce, a fusion of Taco Bell’s bold and smoky Diablo Sauce with the silky-smooth richness of Mike’s Hot Honey ®. The sauce marked a first-of-its-kind sauce innovation for Mike’s Hot Honey®, challenging consumers to forget everything they thought they knew about hot honey.</p>
<p>KFC U.S. has also innovated with its sauces, taking it a step further with a packaging innovation, the Dunk It Bucket. Introduced in March 2025, this is the brand’s first new bucket in nearly a decade, designed specifically for sauce lovers, so they can dunk their Original Recipe Tenders, Secret Recipe Fries or KFC’s new Mashed Potato Poppers in their choice of sauces – choose from zesty Comeback Sauce, tangy-sweet Sticky Chicky Sweet and Sour, Classic Ranch, Honey BBQ, Honey Mustard and Buffalo Ranch. There is even the option for KFC’s savory gravy as the dipping choice.</p>
<p><img src="https://images.ctfassets.net/9tka4b3550oc/3IrTgOGMGIo2eFgzaGHOYo/77a8953292f2eea16dccdc69a3f08827/Dunk_It_Bucket.jpg?q=75&w=1680" style="width: 536px; height: 280px; margin: 0px auto; display: block;" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p>
<p>“The Dunk It Bucket is a dream come true for sauce lovers — dip it, dunk it, drench it, do your thing,” said KFC U.S. President Catherine Tan-Gillespie.</p>
<p><strong>Not just a moment, it’s a whole movement</strong></p>
<p>Sauce lovers have a new destination with Saucy, a restaurant concept backed by KFC which launched in late 2024 in Orlando, Fla. A flavor-forward dining destination, Saucy offers chicken tender lovers the chance to customize their meal with 11 signature sauces – a nod to KFC Original Recipe’s 11 herbs and spices – including Spicy Mango Chutney, Sweet Teriyaki and an array of flavored ranch offerings including Chimichurri, Peri Peri, Jalapeño Pesto and Smokey Bacon.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="SCXW47738481 BCX0" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Segoe UI', 'Segoe UI Web', Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: center; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline-block;"><img src="https://images.ctfassets.net/9tka4b3550oc/416RNIKynTia7O8A41DYXP/304eb96989df5539de7319cc962e3fa6/SAUCY__Orlando_Alafaya_0005.jpg?q=75&w=1680" style="width: 476px; height: 382px;" /> <br /></span></p>
<p>“With Saucy, we’ve taken KFC’s famous Original Recipe and amplified it with a brand-new concept that lets consumers play with flavor. You can pick a combo, choose a flight of sauces or mix sauces and sides to create your perfect meal,” said Christophe Poirier, KFC chief new concept officer.</p>
<p>The idea behind Saucy came from recognizing that today's consumers are not just looking for a meal; they want an experience. By focusing on dips, Saucy aims to provide a unique dining experience that guests can’t find anywhere else.</p>
<p>"Being sauce-focused allows us to be as creative as we want. Saucy debuted 11 sauces, but we envision limited-edition sauces, trend-inspired sauces and sauces created in response to changing tastes," Poirier said.</p>
<p>This approach ensures that every visit to Saucy offers something new and exciting, keeping customers coming back for more.</p>
<p><strong>What dreams are made of</strong></p>
<p>Across all four iconic brands, sauces continue to show up on the menu in fresh, innovative ways. No longer just a finishing touch, sauces are now a focal point, delivering bold flavor, inviting personalization and building stronger brand love with every bite.</p>
<p>“We’re always dreaming of new flavor profiles to introduce to our fans so don’t expect us to slow down anytime soon,” Matthews said.</p>
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