Mark Myers, managing director of Restaurants of Jamaica - operators of KFC, cuts the ribbon at the new eatery in Port Maria, St. Mary, Saturday. Beside him is Doreen Hutchinson, president of the St. Mary Chamber of Commerce. - Contributed

RestaurantS of Jamaica (ROJ) on Saturday opened its newest KFC restaurant in Port Maria, St. Mary, pioneering the new 'look' for the international franchise which is hoping to reposition itself as a place for casual dining.

The $67.5 million restaurant becomes one of the first in the region to sport the new image.

In time, Yum!Brands, the American owners of KFC, hopes to reimage all 14,000 stores worldwide.

The Myers family will, over time, invest about $700 million in the transformation of all 33 KFC stores to provide a more welcoming atmosphere for clients wanting to stay for a meal.

ROJ Managing Director Mark Myers says the Port Maria restaurant has created 62 jobs.

His family has operated the KFC franchise in Jamaica for 32 years, opening the first store in Montego Bay on June 18, 1975.

The new-look KFC has a bolder red colour, a redesigned logo which focuses on the 'Cookin' Colonel', and a new restaurant setting.

The Myers family also marked KFC's market entry into St. Mary with the establishment of two KFC chicky homework centre and reading rooms at the Highgate and St. Mary Parish libraries, in partnership with the Jamaica Library Service, bring the islandwide complement to nine.