KFC's Grilled Chicken Giveaway Used Very Small Chickens
We sort of figured today's grilled chicken giveaway at participating KFC's would be approximately meal-sized—if you could stand the crowd and make it to the counter before they ran out, you'd have a free lunch in your belly. Apparently we were wrong. Here, for your freebie-craving pleasure, is a virtual KFC chicken piece just like what reader BlazerUnit received earlier today.
Here was BlazerUnit's experience. And please note, BlazerUnit isn't really complaining, he just thought it was funny. If you're gonna go on a tirade against anyone, aim it at me for the paragraph above or the captioning in the photos, kthx.
I called my hometown KFC (Monroeville, AL) this morning first to ask if they were giving free samples of their new grilled chicken, and the employee that answered confirmed that they were. I walked to their store and asked for one free sample, an order that was uneventfully filled. I knew from rattling the box my sample wasn't very big, but hey, it was free.
For what it's worth, the small wing I ate was pretty tasty. Also, I couldn't help but notice that on their counter on the register side, there was sort of a primer for possible questions customers might have about the chicken. One of the questions they wanted to prepare inquiring buyers was 'Is this chicken healthier for me' or something to that effect. The standard KFC reply to this was "It's better nutritionally compared to our fried chicken". Heh heh. They really want to work that good-for-you angle, don't they?
Oh well, at least it was tasty.
Post a comment
Comments:
did the someone take a dump in that?
It wasn't bad. Extremely greasy even for grilled, I didn't watch them prepare it as I sat to wait the six minutes they said it took, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was deep fried sans breading.
I did however try their honey barbecue sandwich. For $2 it's very tasty, for the price just imagine you're eating pulled pork.
Only in America do we complain about getting free food. Granted the guy admits that it was small, but i wonder how many people are now pissed at KFC for how small their FREE chicken is.
I would never have assumed it would be meal-sized as the ads specifically said it was only for one piece.
Its free and you criticize it? Whoever went to grab this free piece is a broke-ass idiot.
At least he got a box, all I got was a wrapper and the leg of chicken little
Whaddaya want for nothin'?
so how am I supposed to know how big that piece of chicken was without any reference?
The trick to this new grilled chicken is get it VERY fresh. It's actually pretty good then.
Any other time.... well, disgusting as KFC normally is.
I remember when they used to sell chicken in stores called supermarkets and butcher shops. You could buy it raw and can cook it at home yourself. It was much cheaper and better for you too.
That was all before the KFC Act of 2010, of course (755 U.S.C. §§ 151-1127).
I would have tried had I known this was on today. It's right down the street from my office!
That's totally to be expected of a wing from KFC... Not very big, but done right, it's yummy.
At least you didn't have to pay anything to enjoy your KFC. I went in asking for my free piece and they said I had to buy something first. I didn't get massively pissed, just a little upset since I was planning on supplementing my free piece (I chose and got a nice-sized thigh) with a side or something.
Mom pulled me out of the house to return again so she could get her free piece and she tried to insist on getting her piece without having to buy anything, but they said something about not knowing what's going on since they hadn't seen any ads or anything (dot dot dot). However, she (and I) compromised and bought the cheapest thing on the menu: a 60 cent biscuit.
Guess it was just a sucky location since my brothers went to restaurants all over the town and were able to walk in and get their chicken free with no purchase required. One of my brothers even got the deal with his wife through the drive-thru and they gave them two breast pieces and a biscuit.
Well, at least your little nugget of a piece was yummy.
@christoj879: Careful with those little bbq sandwiches. I don't know the "official" term for it, but I've found them pretty stringy with lots of barely edible... stuff... inside 'em.
@Gideon: What are the odds of getting it fresh? Even if the second you order it it is freshly-made, the fifteen-minute wait in the drive thru behind minivans ordering for families of twelve people will ensure it's old and dry by the time you get it. And nobody make any sexual references to that last part.
My boyfriend and I went to our KFC today to get the sample. There was a bit of a line, and when we got to the register, we were told that it was a 10 minute wait. OK, no big deal. We bought a drink and stood back.
Well, 15 minutes later, I hear the order before mine get called up, and it's a woman who -purchased- some grilled chicken. The lady behind the counter told her that they only had thighs, drumsticks, and wings in grilled. The next order called was mine, and the lady says, "We have crispy and original". I told her that I didn't want those, that I was obviously here for the grilled chicken. She says, "Oh, well, it'll be another 20 minutes."
It was obvious that the people working there were less than thrilled to be giving out samples, and it seems to me that they were purposely making people wait for them. I wasn't about to stand around for 35 minutes waiting for a tiny piece of chicken. A bunch of the people who were waiting with us also left. A few took the crispy or original as a consolation sample.
I didn't eat there before (the fried chicken is just disgusting), and I don't plan to start eating there again.
that box is such a bait n switch....or some such malarky
We've had the KFC grilled chicken in Austin for months now. Let's just say that the small piece he got is the size that I've always ended up with, regardless of how much I paid for it.
Not bad at all, the spices are pretty tasty. There was a hint of that 'burnt' charcoal taste in the thigh and drumstick meat I had. Wouldn't make me want to give up the original recipe though.
@Pixelantes Anonymous:
Click on the picture. It's a small wing perfect for tasting what they want you to purchase.
This shill brought to you by my second chin:
The sodium content of grilled beats the hell out of my favorite - original recipe.
Calorie-wise, a breast has always been lower in calories than burgers from the two big franchises. However, the sodium content has always been astronomically high -unless you peeled off the skin.
Now, you have 440mgs of sodium per breast compared to 510mgs stripped and 1050mgs fully breaded.
"Hello, gift horse. Let me have a look at that mouth of yours."
Seriously, the picture seems to imply KFC is "cheap" for giving away a free sample which is small. I think that the person who expects a lot for nothing is the one who is cheap.
@JoshReflek: How can it be "bait and switch"? It's a free sample. They're not promised anything. It's only "bait and switch" is you're promised more and then given less.
The box is likely the smallest standard size box they can place something in. They probably don't have special boxes for small samples and use standard boxes that they use when selling chicken.
Needless to say, the grilled chicken is pretty tasty. I was surprised myself!
It's not just the free chicken that's small.
We went and bought both grilled and regular KFC the other night and the pieces were fully HALF the size they used to be. They weren't as small as say, game hens, but they were pretty dinky and not even remotely like what the commercials would have you believe.
Very disappointing.
I went with a friend after the gym last night, around 9 PM or so. With only the teensiest attitude, the lady gave us a free breast each.
We ate, we liked, we had thought about ordering more, but we were sorta not wanting more food at that moment.
I guess locations and times of day meant a lot regarding this giveaway. I thought it was pretty good, somewhere between grilled Chick Fil-A and El Pollo Loco. Plus, cheaper than the Loco (which has it's OWN giveaway tomorrow night) and hot enough so that we had to eat it slowly, hence the full after.
I'm planning on trying it again, paid for. Yes, I am aware of the awful things KFC farmers and slaughterhouses do to chickens. I am also aware of the nasty religious practices and bigotries surrounding Chick Fil-A.
And I am sure some dirt on Pollo Loco will emerge. things always do. Were I wealthy, I would, well hire a chef, but barring that, buy only free range, pure grain fed, pampered chickens who were humanely killed and prepared by a company that hires and respects those from every walk of life.
As it stands, I am poor, relatively speaking, as are many of my friends. We follow the free chicken wherever it roams. And God(dess) have mercy on our souls.
BTW, I have to make it clear. The lady gave us each a free CHICKEN breast. She kept her own to herself, in a tidy uniform. I am sorry for any confusion.
@JerseyCelebrity: Sorry, Almost anywhere in the world were the food is free, you will see everyone complaining about it. Since it is free, it means that no one else would pay anything for it. Whoever is giving it away, really had to get rid of it.
Only in America do people complain about EDIBLE free food!
@Comrade ☠Grяrяrяrяrяrяrя reporting for duty!: Denny's Free breakfast, now that was done right! KFC is just going to gross people out/piss off of coming back.
If that is what they are offering, who the heck is going to pay for it! It's not even good enough to go and get for FREE!
Think about your comment, who would pay for it?
@balilanai: I guess that means you're talking to me.
Reading comprehension, sir: I knew it was a small piece, and I reconciled that by noting, "Hey, it was free" (as samples usually are). Hard-hitting criticism? I think not. Perhaps you thought I was so stupid to expect this to be my lunch, but I can confirm to you that I did not.
@ShariC: I didn't expect that much to begin with, and I certainly didn't expect to be called 'cheap' and 'a broke-ass idiot' from simply sharing my experience on Consumerist.
Then again, everyone is a little braver behind a username.
@a_pink_poodle: 'Twas good stuff, it really was. I'll probably buy some (see, I'm not that cheap/broke!) for dinner this weekend.
So somewhere there's a whole bunch of chicken skin waiting to be breaded and deep-fried? drool.
Oh, stop, you know that's the best part.
"... and I'll have a side of crispy skin bits and a side of fries, please."
The KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) here in Greenville Ohio has the Buffet for $7.49. I wonder if the grilled chicken will ever be on the buffet? They already have several versions of chicken in the trays. I beleive they feature regular, extra crispy and barbecue style, if my memory is working. My thin wife (120 lbs) always eats three skin-less breasts, while I (222 lbs) can barely eat two skin-less breasts. Of course, I eat lots of sides, whereas she avoids most of the sides. I wonder why some breasts of juicy and others are arid dry. It takes a lot of gravy to choke down a dry breast.
Even free is too high a cost to get me into KFC.
@twophrasebark: I totally know what you mean. I remember the good old days when people used to keep guitars and pianos in their houses. You could sit down and produce music of all sorts of genres. It was much more mentally stimulating and cheaper to make your own music too.
@Andi Lee: It seems the Extra Crispy wings are usually pretty large, the Original Wings are medium to small. This one looks puny.
"There's an old joke...two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain resort, and one of 'em says, 'Boy, the food at this place is really terrible.' The other one says, 'Yeah, I know -- and such small portions!'" -- Alvy Singer
I am reminded of one of the Simpson's Treehouse of Terror episodes when Mr. Burns was a vampire and the family was invited over for dinner:
Lisa: (checks glass) Ew! Dad, it's blood!
Homer: Correction, it's FREE blood! (drinks)
My experience with this promotion seemed much more fair. My wife and I pulled up to the drive-thru and asked if they were participating in the free grilled promotion. Without hesitation, we were asked how many people were in the car (nice touch! better than that one-per-car Taco Bell fiasco from a few months ago). We didn't have to order anything else, but we ordered a 2-piece grilled meal anyways. The pieces we got were large enough that we felt we both ate a decent meal.
@JoshReflek: The free one I got was in a more appropriately sized container. It was bigger than I was expecting. I also got a bunch of coupons for more free ones later from this weekend's Parade magazine.
@twophrasebark: Yeah but when you make chicken at home you don't marinate it a delicious brine of MSG with beef flavoring.
I've had the grilled chicken before and that's pretty much the size of the wings. All of the pieces are smaller.
In Nashville they asked me what piece I would like. I said breast. It was a normal size breast. I thought it was pretty good.
Yeah you got the right size piece. I bought a 10 piece bucket for the family last week because it looked like something new to try. I mixed in 2 extra crispy parts in case the wife and kid hated it and waited while they cooked it... When I got the bucket I thought they forgot the grilled chicken! There were the 2 breasts and that's all I saw in the bucket. I moved them and in the bottom were these sad little pieces of chicken. They looked like I had gotten take out wings... Great taste but they shrunk the chicken. For the cost a rotisserie from sams or kroger is better.
That just looks like a breaded chicken bone. Is there even any meat on that thing?