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The fried-chicken wars: Inside KFC’s weird new fight to dethrone Chick-fil-A
The Washington Post's Wonkblog ^ | May 25, 2015 | Drew Harwell

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 ...


TOPICS: Agriculture; Business/Economy; Food; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: chickfila; farming; fastfood; kfc
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1 posted on 05/26/2015 5:34:42 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Well, Darrell Hammond is funny. But not funny enough to have me stop eating at Chick-Fil-A.

In fact, now that I know this is a business strategy to ruin a Christian business, I’ll make a point to eat more at Chick-Fil-A.

Take that, YUM! brands.


2 posted on 05/26/2015 5:37:23 PM PDT by SoFloFreeper
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I’ll stick with Chic-fil a instead of Kentucky fried rat served by people with no manners and drop food only to serve it again.


3 posted on 05/26/2015 5:37:41 PM PDT by manc (Marriage =1 man + 1 woman,when they say marriage equality then they should support polygamy)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

They are too expensive and their chicken isn’t as crispy


4 posted on 05/26/2015 5:38:55 PM PDT by dila813
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To: manc

I’ve never eaten at chick Fil-A. Now that I can get around independently, I’ll have to hunt down the local one, and see how it tastes.


5 posted on 05/26/2015 5:39:24 PM PDT by PrairieLady2
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Kentucky Fried Chicken instead of KFC would go a long way to reviving the brand.

I always liked Kentucky Fried Chicken, more than Popeyes, Church’s or even Chick-Fil-A.

Get down to basics.... get the order right, get it fast, and make quality the top priority.


6 posted on 05/26/2015 5:39:28 PM PDT by Ouderkirk (To the left, everything must evidence that this or that strand of leftist theory is true)
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To: dila813

who is too expensive and not crispy?


7 posted on 05/26/2015 5:39:49 PM PDT by manc (Marriage =1 man + 1 woman,when they say marriage equality then they should support polygamy)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

KFC is absolutely awful chicken. Reviving a fake Colonel Sanders cant’t make a dent in Chick-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!


8 posted on 05/26/2015 5:40:21 PM PDT by dforest
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To: PrairieLady2

Chic-fil-a is way above and always clean and served by people using manners.


9 posted on 05/26/2015 5:40:44 PM PDT by manc (Marriage =1 man + 1 woman,when they say marriage equality then they should support polygamy)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

If they were to aspire to be a consistently well-run and well-managed version of Church’s they’d do well imho. Unapologetically what they are, no pretense of being health food. Fried chicken, fried okra, they’re what they are and do a fine job of it when they do. A lot of them don’t though, very spotty. A good one is a find. Most aren’t.


10 posted on 05/26/2015 5:41:42 PM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Kentucky Friend Chicken’s problem is that a lot of people associate it with a ghetto customer base. Meanwhile, Chik-fil-A is positioned as a Christian, middle-class chain.


11 posted on 05/26/2015 5:41:51 PM PDT by PapaBear3625 (You don't notice it's a police state until the police come for you.)
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To: PrairieLady2

Chikfila isn’t JUNK. It is an MSG party and nothing more.


12 posted on 05/26/2015 5:41:58 PM PDT by impimp
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To: dforest

Went to a bonfire party couple of months ago and the KFC was nothing but grease, hardly any chicken, and all batter.

Might as well have ben a rat they cooked. This only confirmed to me that I would never spend a penny there.


13 posted on 05/26/2015 5:42:00 PM PDT by manc (Marriage =1 man + 1 woman,when they say marriage equality then they should support polygamy)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Guess if there wasn’t a Popeye’s around I might face a choice.


14 posted on 05/26/2015 5:42:20 PM PDT by CharleysPride (non chiedere cio che non si puo prendere -- Charlie Daniels)
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To: manc

Thats the genius of Chic-fil-a. They managed to install quality and atmosphere into a fast food restaurant. And the difference is remarkable between them and their competition.


15 posted on 05/26/2015 5:42:50 PM PDT by bigdaddy45
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To: Ouderkirk

You are right.

But they will double down on liberal marketers telling them that they need to become more culturally relevant and ever more green and ever more homo friendly. It will fail.


16 posted on 05/26/2015 5:43:59 PM PDT by ecomcon
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

They don’t stand a chance against Chick-fil-A, at least not down here in the South.


17 posted on 05/26/2015 5:44:42 PM PDT by snippy_about_it
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Chick fil-a does one thing right. That's the chicken sandwich.

Maybe 20 years ago, KFC was somewhat decent with their fried chicken. But it tastes like crap now for most part.

18 posted on 05/26/2015 5:44:45 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

They have sucked ever since they changed their name to KFC and became just another fast food chain. Little things, like being skimpy with gravy in family meals. When they first started the Col. picked up a meal and said it didn’t feel like enough for the money and had them add a pint of gravy. Now they give a half pint to save maybe a nickel. I used to like the gravy with biscuits for breakfast the next day. And they got rid of the chicken livers. I prefer Popeye’s now.


19 posted on 05/26/2015 5:44:46 PM PDT by Hugin ("Do yourself a favor--first thing, get a firearm!",)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Usually conservatives troll the comments sections of lib papers. This might be the post of the night: :)

LIBTARD: What are KFC’s politics? I am not a fan of fried chicken ,but Chick-Filet is homophobic. If KFC supports equal rights then i will make a point of purchasing something from KFC.

CON: KFC believes that all chickens are created equal; they have the right to be slaughtered, chopped up, deep-fried, and eaten.
CON2: KFC slaughters both heterosexual and homosexual chickens, so clearly they deserve all the liberal dollars. Do you give $10 to each of the employees that are working there when you buy something, because otherwise you are a liberal hypocrite who exploits minimum wage workers.


20 posted on 05/26/2015 5:44:53 PM PDT by max americana (fired liberals in our company last election, and I laughed while they cried (true story))
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