Why KFC Franchise Owners Would Like to Fry Corporate Parent Yum! Brands
Kentucky Fried Chicken has been trying to move beyond its fried-food image since it renamed itself KFC back in 1991. But franchise owners report the long attempt to get America to love its healthier grilled chicken is a flop -- so they're suing for control of the ad campaign, which they'd like to feature their core product: fried chicken. Corporate parent Yum! Brands (YUM) should give franchisees what they want here, and stop pretending this chain is about something other than what it is.
Yum! focused on the chain's grilled chicken in ads over the past year, which franchisees say is a big reason why domestic sales are down at their brand (while sister companies Taco Bell and Pizza Hut are seeing sales grow). The tagline, "Unthink KFC," was yet another attempt at distancing the chain from fried chicken. A move to overcompensate for the healthy-food marketing by introducing the gross-out fried Double Down also fizzled.
The only time the grilled chicken moved really well is when Oprah Winfrey gave it away free on her show last year. That mismanaged campaign led to long lines and near-rioting when the chicken sold out. The fact that this was the only time the grilled chicken did well seemed lost on Yum! execs. In more ordinary times, franchise owners recently told Bloomberg Businessweek, only 16 percent of the chicken sold is grilled. The franchisees say a survey of members showed almost half the grilled chicken in stores typically gets thrown out at the end of the night.
KFC stores are up against a basic truth of American fast food: You can lead diners to healthy food, but when they go out for a cheap bite, they want to pig out. McDonald's (MCD) hasn't had much success convincing patrons to choose salads over Big Macs, either. Marketing the chain as a healthy-chicken place is hurting them. Others in the healthy-chicken niche such as El Pollo Loco aren't doing so great, either.
So why keep trying to shoehorn KFC into a niche that isn't paying off, when this chain was built on fried chicken? Yum! can fight this in court, or it might be able to make its legal problems go away by giving the front-line store owners what they want -- a great fried-chicken campaign. Besides pleasing store owners, it could help sales, and that would help Yum!, too.
Photo via Flickr user Joe Shlabotnik
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