(afagen)
It’s been a bad year for the Colonel. People under 25 don’t know who he is; the KFC franchisees are in a lawsuit with their corporate overseers, Popeyes beat KFC in a taste test and the company is paying college girls to advertise the Double Down on their butts. To make matters worse, KFC announced yesterday that U.S. sales continue to sink.
Unlike its sibling fast food properties Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, which announced quarterly sales increases of 8% and 3% respectively, KFC sales were down 7% in the U.S. last quarter.
“The system is hurting,” one franchisee, who was formerly the company’s COO and currently owns 12 KFCs, told the AP about the situation. “We’ve got to do something to reinvigorate the system.”
Says Yum! Brands CEO:
There is no quick fix… We are absolutely committed to turning KFC around. And we’re seeing slow but steady progress.
Many franchisees continue to blame the company’s recent fixation on grilled chicken and sandwiches for consumers’ waning interest in its menu.
“It’s still Kentucky Fried Chicken,” said the aforementioned franchisee, referencing the restaurant chain’s old name. “Our DNA is fried chicken. That’s what we’re known for. And after the launch, there could have been a little bit better balance between grilled and fried. We were just all one-sided.”
While we’re on the topic of KFC, our readers in Canada who have felt bereft of the salty saltiness that is the Double Down will soon be able to try one for themselves. The bacon-and-cheese sandwich on fried chicken bread is set to make its Canadian debut on Oct. 18.
Yum CEO: No ‘quick fix’ at KFC in US [AP]
KFC’s Double Down coming to Canada [LFPress.com]
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I stopped liking KFC because it just seemed too fatty. Not because it’s bad for me, but because the high-fat chicken gets all soggy. I adore crispy chicken skin, so I just use garlic and cajun seasoning on pieces of chicken at home and bake it. Start skin-down for 10-15min, then flip it over for another 10-15 (I prefer thighs, they stay very juicy). Maybe turn on the broiler for the final crisping. No added oil, no extra-super-fatty chicken, all for a much lower cost and without even leaving the house.
In Houston, the problem is their quality of of food and service is a game of Russian Roulette. Although their Bellaire store is usually at least average, the location in Stafford has the honor of giving me the worst service and wait time I’ve ever received in a fast-food place.
Frenchy’s is the best in Houston for taste, but loses points since it’s carryout only.
Speaking of carryout, the best value is (gasp!) Wal-Mart. If you get it directly from the deli (not the grab and go pre-packs), it’s usually fresher than Kroger since Wal-Mart sells more and cooks every few hours. The pieces are larger than Kroger or Randall’s (Safeway) and the price is about $2.50 less for 8 pieces.
I never have any luck with the Wal-Mart on Dunvale. Their prepared chicken always has a strange off-taste. I stopped buying most meats at Wal-Mart anyway when I noticed I was consistently sick after eating chicken, beef, sausage, and ham sold there. Frozen fish, oddly, seems fine.
For me I am sick of the downsizing of the meals and inconsistency in pricing and promotions between franchise owners. First they changed the triple crunch to a double, never ordered that again. Then the store I go to the most raised the buffalo snacker to $1.25 from $1.00. One store by my old house has a $3 sandwich and potato wedge deal which I cant find anywhere else. Even that deal is frustrating as they refuse to let me substitute the potato wedges for a different side. Oh and the value drink is a joke, its a water cup they fill with soda.
I just never know what I’m going to get when I go to a store. The only thing that is a good deal is the various promos but those are inconsistent. Everything else has decreased in quality and increased in price. Its hilarious that the franchise owners are complaining to corporate that the advertising is completely to blame when most of my problem is with all the franchise owners themselves.
Maybe it’s because KFC food is disgusting?
Nahh…can’t be that.
I’m not buying KFC anymore because the last several times I stopped by there in the evening, say 7pm, they were “out” of chicken and wouldn’t fry up any more. Talking to other people in my town, they had been running into this as well. When a chicken restaurant “runs out” of chicken at two hours before closing time, it’s time to take my business down the road to Lee’s or make my own at home, both of which I now do.
In Canada KFC is so over priced. It’s like $25 a bucket.
That’s cause they give you a heaping order of poutine with every bucket.
People go where the food tastes better. Popeye’s > KFC in taste. It shouldn’t surprise the folks at KFC that their sales are down. In many places, there are usually better local options too (Crown Fried Chicken, local Chinese take out joint).
And to the folks at KFC: fried chicken should be crispy – not soggy pieces of white/dark meat that they pass off as fried chicken….I’m looking at you Original recipe.
wait hold on a freaking min, white people eat KFC whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat
sarcasm ended
I used to go there for their buffalo boneless wings, but then they stopped carrying them. I would still go occasionally for the buffalo snacker sandwich, but they don’t carry those any more either…
So I guess I’m not really going to KFC any more.
It’s simple. KFC is over priced.
It’s simple. KFC is over priced.
Popeyes gave me the most awful liquid squirts years ago. Havent touched the stuff since.
That’s what my last encounter with the “Colonel” gave me. Not what one wants to have to deal with when trying to sleep, either.
Unless the grilled chicken promotions confused long term customers, I doubt that is the problem.
No, my guess is that it is because (in my experience) the average KFC franchise location is filthy, slow, and out of at least one regular menu item. If the franchises would quit pointing fingers and cleanup their own restaurants, the situation would improve.
I’ll tell you why I don’t go there. My local KFC in a city location (01610) is wedged next to a fire station and has a small parking area that is only on the side of the building where the drive through line starts. The drive through line is almost always backed out almost to the street, and it’s impossible to get out of a parking space in the lot if you’re lucky enough to get into one, because the drive through line blocks the space you need to back up. And if you do back out, your only way to exit is to join the drive through line.
Has nothing to do with the food, it’s the simple mechanics of buying something there. Smells delicious but I won’t try to stop there. But I hear the firemen are frequent visitors.
I don’t want grilled chicken and I don’t want crappy sitting around for an hour fried chicken; therefore I do not eat Kentucky FRIED Chicken anymore.
Was this blog post the reason why KFC is now bringing the Double Down to Canada? Or is this just a strange coincidence? You decide.
I don’t go to KFC in the state because I don’t like deep fried food, period. The irony is that, I recently went to China and went to a KFC with some friends. Their local menu offering is completely different and I thought some item like chicken potage is actually kind of…healthy…
People think of KFC as family food. It’s a sit-down meal that you have to actually sit and eat like civilized humans. But people don’t buy fast food for the whole family anymore. They buy for themselves, or they buy grab and go like pizza. KFC should promote their individual meals more.
I hope someone from Yum! is reading this: GO BACK TO KFC’s ROOTS. Keep it simple. Do it well.
I work outside and all over the city so KFC breast meal was always a good choice twice a week. But then they changed their menu and forced you to get a drink and only ONE side Or Pay almost $2 more for the Meal.
Some places would let me sub the drink for a second side(which are the same price!)
It became too much of a hassle so i stopped going all together.
I remember KFC being good back in the 90′s, it was always our Super Bowl food of choice. The quality has just gone down significantly over the years and it’s one of those places you just want to drive past now.
my local KFC is filled with employees with bad hygiene. there is trash on the floor and tables.not to mention it’s too hot.
the main reason i don’t go is half the product i’m paying for is bones that get thrown away. oh and the prices are too high.
Related articles:
* Why Aren’t You Buying KFC Anymore?
* KFC Pays College Girls To Advertise Double Down On Their Butts
Gee, I don’t know what possibly could compel me to avoid a restaurant that advertises like that. Could also have something to do with the price. A tiny cup of gravy cost $2.50 last I checked.
I think it is good they introduced Grilled Chicken, it makes for a great sensible meal choice over the standard fried chicken.
However, I think 3 things have hurt KFC :
1) Poor customer service (at least in the stores in my area) and slow service. They have the chicken already prepared, it shouldn’t take so damn long for them to get me a meal.
2) Lack of variety in chicken recipes. They offer all these different takes on the same recipes like sandwiches, wraps, bowls, etc. in addition to the usual, but maybe people aren’t interested in that stuff as much as different chicken recipes. Maybe people want to have a good piece of barbequed chicken, or maybe some marinated chicken, or something like that, instead of the same old recipe but “now the chicken is the buns of a sandwich”.
3) Price. They are expensive. Not to say that fried chicken is super cheap or anything, but no way should a small bucket of 8-10 pieces of chicken with a couple of sides be around twice as much as it costs to buy a pizza. I know, Pizza IS cheaper to make, the damn stuff is mostly dough, cheese, and sauce, but if they want more sales, they need KFCs price offerings to be more competitive. And I also find that convenience stores, walmart’s deli, and some other places in this area, even non-chicken oriented fast food places, tend to have just as good of chicken and cheaper anyway.