Who hasn’t noticed that Chicken is overtaking Burgers in the Fast Food sphere? KFC has certainly got the ‘competition’ message. And the once-dominant poultry-space player is undertaking a massive makeover to meet the challenge…
Symbolizing the new KFC: The foundational ‘bucket’ image, plus the iconic Colonel…
‘How sharper than a serpent’s tooth … to have a thankless child!’ So lamented the King on being dissed by his eldest daughter, Goneril, in the first act of Shakespeare’s King Lear.
That’s how the Colonel’s crew must feel, to find, in the latest annual financial overview of the com-pany, that it’s enjoying growth all over the world – except at home in the US. But the legendary chicken purveyor isn’t sitting in a corner booth, crying in its gravy.
“KFC has become a global brand with an American problem, rather than an American brand with global ambitions,” observes Usha Haley, the Barton Distinguished Chair of International Business at Wichita State University told Business Insider.
In response to this challenge, KFC is undertaking the biggest business model overhaul in its history, with what the brand’s brain trust is calling, “The Next Chapter of Chicken.”
A new thrust
KFC says the central thrust of its corporate makeover will three-pronged, involving digital engage-ment, new menu items, and immersive experiences.
“We have a history of keeping pace with the consumer, and now everything we’re doing is in service of making sure we’re setting the standard for the modern chicken quick service restaurant,” KFC Global CEO Scott Mezvinsky says.
“The worst thing we can do is stand still — but the other thing that we can’t do is just completely change who we are,” Val Kubizniak, KFC’s global Chief Marketing Officer says. He likens the job to turning a cruise ship: “You can absolutely change course, but it takes intention and distance.”
The menu
KFC’s menu update will pivot on a new focus on ‘boneless’ chicken products, and a greater variety of flavour options. That means a focus on new sauces, which the company is already starting to roll out. The company that was founded on selling Family Buckets and Party Barrels of chicken is moving towards a model that focuses on the preferences of individual diners
The current Fast Food sector focus on new, more-creative beverages has not escaped the KFC test kitchens, either. Fans will soon see a whole new drinks menu, dubbed Kwench, featuring an updated and expanded selection designed to compete with the new offerings from competitors McDonald’s and Taco Bell. The ne3 slate will include boba refreshers, sparkling lemonades, iced coffees, and shakes. And that will take KFC’s beverage service even further, into Starbuck’s territory…
“People drink more and more often than they eat,” Christophe Poirier, KFC’s Global Chief Concept Officer, says. “We need to be in constant evolution to be ‘forever young’.”
An ‘immersive experience’
Poirier is helming a global effort to take KFC from a traditional counter-service operation to a total immersive experience. What he calls a ‘QXR’, or ‘Quality Experience Restaurant’. “The new generation,” he points out, “have no patience for boredom.”
“Future KFC locations will feature more dynamic digital elements, flexible spaces, and redesigned service areas intended to feel less transactional and more experiential — think immersive screens, layouts that shift with different dayparts, and hospitality-focused service areas that blur the line between employee and customer,” Business Insider reports.
Resting on heritage, not laurels
In short KFC is leaning on its legend – including the iconic Colonel – while making big changes in how it does its legendary ‘thing’.
“We know that chicken is the category growing the fastest,” he said. “And we also know that we’re the chicken kings.”
My take
It’s a huge gamble But there’s rally nothing in KFC’s action plan for the future that hasn’t already been pioneered and implemented successfully by various players among its competition.
KFC is mixing up a whole new stew from classic ingredients… The question remains, will its faithful fans like the ‘flavour’?
~ Maggie J.