Chicken tenders are now available until 3 a.m. in Horizon West. Saucy! by KFC quietly opened its doors at Flamingo Crossings Town Center on Monday, October 12, taking over a storefront at 2224 Western Way, Suite A, that once belonged to PDQ, the Tampa-founded chicken tender chain.
The soft opening came ahead of a planned grand opening celebration on Saturday, November 7, which according to WFTV will include a live DJ, an interactive sauce bar led by a designated Sauce Sommelier, a spin-to-win Sauce Roulette game, and free Saucy Snack Boxes for the first 50 guests. As West Orange Times & Observer reported, the menu leans into customization, with tender meals, chicken sandwiches, wraps, loaded french fries and beignets, all paired with sauces like Thai Sweet 'n Spicy, Jalapeño Pesto Ranch, Saucy's Sauce and Smokey Bacon Ranch.
A Returning Concept in Its Original Test Market
This marks Saucy! by KFC's sixth Orlando-area location, bringing the pink-branded spinoff back to the market where Yum! Brands first launched the concept test in December 2024, per the same WFTV report. The Flamingo Crossings opening fits into a broader statewide rollout: Yum! Brands acquired 13 Florida leaseholds from PDQ in 2025 to scale Saucy! as a wholly owned, corporate-run fast-casual concept, according to Nation's Restaurant News, which reported that Yum! Brands CEO David Gibbs called Saucy a catalyst for long-term U.S. business growth.
Hoodline previously reported on the same expansion pattern playing out elsewhere in the state, from Saucy sneaking into Tampa to the brand's debut at two Jacksonville-area sites built on former PDQ leases.
Open Until 3 a.m. on Weekends
Hours at the new location run from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Sunday through Wednesday and 11 a.m. to 3 a.m. Thursday through Saturday, per the West Orange Times & Observer. The extended schedule lines up with what Mainstreet Daily News has described as Saucy!'s late-night vibe dining shift, which kicks in around 9 p.m. each evening as ambient lighting dims and music volume rises inside the stores.
Beyond the Horizon West location's tender-and-sauce staples, other Saucy! stores have rolled out DRIPS by Pepsi crafted beverages with cold foams and popping boba, customizable Chick'itos, and Tostitos Walking Tacos, according to QSR Magazine, which noted the DRIPS lineup launched systemwide in spring 2026.
Built for a Booming, Round-the-Clock Neighborhood
The location sits inside Flamingo Crossings Town Center, a roughly 200,000-square-foot open-air retail and dining hub at State Road 429 and Western Way that serves as Walt Disney World's western gateway, according to the Disney Tourist Blog. Just steps away, Flamingo Crossings Village houses up to 10,400 Disney College Program participants and cast members across 2,614 apartment units, per the Orlando Business Journal, giving the late-night menu a built-in audience of shift workers heading home after park closing.
The surrounding Horizon West area has also grown, from roughly 14,000 residents in 2010 to 58,101 by 2020. The neighboring ZIP code 34787, covering Winter Garden and Horizon West, added 23,088 residents between 2019 and 2023, the highest net gain of any ZIP code in Orange County, the Orlando Business Journal reported.
Those growth numbers help explain why Yum! Brands keeps planting its pink flag in West Orange County, following Hoodline's report that Wings & Rings was a planned tenant at Flamingo Crossings. For now, Horizon West residents and Disney cast members alike have a new place to grab tenders and a customized sauce flight well past midnight.
