Posted on 05/26/2015 5:34:42 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
These are dark days for KFC's once-dominant chicken empire. After five years of crumbling sales, the extra crispy mega-chain, which in 2012 lost its throne as America's top chicken seller to Chick-fil-A, now makes less money than eateries half its size, like Applebee's and Panera Bread.
Now, 75 years after "Colonel" Harland Sanders first served his original recipe at a six-seat dining table in rural Kentucky, the chain is betting $185 million on a massive, bizarre turnaround campaign in hopes of winning a seat again at the fast-food table.
The chain is blasting out TV ads, offering new Southern-style grub and remodeling some of its 4,300 stores with humanized touches, like boards they say will name the regional farm where their chickens came from.
Perhaps KFC's biggest gamble: Reviving the long-dead visage of Colonel Sanders himself, "the brand’s greatest asset," with a handful of increasingly odd "web, broadcast, social media and in-store experiences."(continued)
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
” ... will name the regional farm where their chickens came from. “
Wow, “Portlandia” is having a real impact on the culture: first Obama adopts their idea for “less threatening” police uniforms, and now KFC is gonna give us the chickens’ Curriculum Vita, a la this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAlWrT5P2VI
Ha! I knew it was Darrell Hammond! Thanks, now I don't have to bother reading the article.
Haven't had KFC in decades. Love Chic fil A!
“We don’t usually eat fast food stuff, but my hubby brought some KFC home a while back. it was so awful we threw it in the trash can. All of it!”
When it’s not soggy it’s pretty good.
Good luck with that, KFC. Chick Fil A has a line around the building almost all day long, every day.
It’s pretty simple. Bring back the original recipe.
All the KFC’s in my area are turning into Popeyes!
Farm to Table restaurants are doing exceptionally well where I live. It's nice to know when you walk into a restaurant where the different parts of your meal are coming from.
One farm to table restaurant gets their beef from one local farm, the chicken from another local farm, and the pork from a third. They also post where they get the vegetables, potato's, etc.. from. The difference in food quality and taste in farm to table restaurants vs. any other restaurant are immediately noticeable.
One of the farm to table restaurants we go to here in Plainfield, IL (named: Soverign) specifically advertises their meat products as being growth hormone free.
Of course we pay extra for the FRESHNESS of farm to table restaurants and more organic foods but IMO it's absolutely worth it.
No one should underestimate the power of advertising that their local restaurant (even a KFC) is keeping a local poultry farmer afloat and investing resources in the local community.
KFC used to taste good. Not anymore. Something has happened to it over the years. Popeyes and Bojangles put them to shame.
Plus the pieces are tiny compared to other brands.
I’ll never eat anything from KFC.
Chick-fil-A is really good, with their variety of salads and soup. Add to it the quality of their employees. “Service with a smile”, always. If they were closer, the Mrs and I would eat there a lot more.
Out here in Southern California, the Chicken Dinner Restaurant at Knott’s Berry Farm, an amusement park, offers a take-out version of their fried chicken which is far better than KFC, but the price is almost double. My mother worked there as a waitress in 1941-42 (when it was still a berry farm), and if you ate there in the 1950’s, your chicken might have come from my uncle’s ranch, located where Disneyland now stands, or from its later location in Olive Heights.
I happen to like both food chains myself and try to go to KFC or Chick-fil-A wherever I am. Let me just make this observation about KFC. Clean your damn restaurants! It didn’t matter if I was in California, Illinois, or in Connecticut it seemed that every retaurant at that location was dirty. Tabletops had chicken crumbs on top and not swept. Floors were dirty and the trash cans were filled to the brim. In contrast, I’ve never been to a Chick-fil-A that was messy. I don’t know what the personnel issues are for both chains but it seems to me Chick-fil-A goes out of its way in their presentation of their restaurants more so than KFC. I’m sure slovenly restaurants had to be a major complaint made by KFC customers. Hope they address it as part of their chain makeover.
If you like your chicken garlicky, eat at one of the Versailles Cuban restaurants in Los Angeles. I have heard that about 80 percent of the patrons order the garlic chicken. If you like Cuban-style garlic chicken, you will not be disappointed.
Saw a sign truck go by earlier with two six-foot square sign panels bearing the visage of Col. Sanders in all his red-on-white glory. What's up I don't know just yet, but it looks like the street sign. They doubled up with Long John Silver's years back. Hmmm.
Cui!
There was a chicken place in Downtown Hartford CT that served I guess it is Broasted chicken dinners. I think that they are pressure deep fried with a heavy batter. those were gooood dinners. Mashed potatoes came with it if I remember.
Any one know about it or whether it is still running?
And change the oil once every dozen fortnights or so.
We lived in Santa Anna and then Chino from my infancy to 1974 and yes, we went to Knott’s Berry Farm a lot. Used to wear my cowboy holster and chaps (my father had them made for me in Okinawa) with a cowboy hat, boots and cap pistols. Innocent times.
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