NEW YORK KFC officially unveiled its long-awaited Kentucky Grilled Chicken on Tuesday, in a nationwide product rollout that brand parent Yum! Brands Inc. has said will help spark sales at the chicken chain.
Four years in development, the grilled chicken product is intended to provide more healthful offerings to customers and increase visits among consumers who think of KFC as a fried-chicken-only restaurant. The grilled chicken is priced the same as KFC’s fried chicken, and the chain’s well-known buckets can be mixed with both grilled and fried menu items.
“It will help sales,” KFC franchisee Ric Rozier said in New York at the unveiling of Kentucky Grilled Chicken. “It is designed to increase trial among new customers and keep our regular customers happy with a new product.”
Rozier, who as vice president of operations at GDR Associates Inc. operates three restaurants in Westchester, N.Y., has been offering the product for two weeks, but he declined to give any sales results.
To spread the word about the new product, KFC will offer free samples nationwide on Monday, April 27. Consumers who stop by any KFC throughout the day for “UNFry Day” will receive a free piece of Kentucky Grilled Chicken.
The product launch also will be supported by a nationwide advertising campaign created by DraftFCB Chicago urging customers to “UNThink what you thought about KFC.” TV spots feature endorsements from The Food Network’s Sandra Lee and TV One’s chef G. Garvin. A website, www.unthinkkfc.com, also has been developed.
“The new Kentucky Grilled Chicken is delicious,” Lee said. “In addition to being a better-for-you option, I love that moms can swing by the drive-thru of their local KFC and pick up an entire meal that is high in quality and taste.”
With between 70 and 180 calories and 4 to 9 grams of fat, depending on the piece, Kentucky Grilled Chicken is positioned as an option that will draw health-conscious consumers back to KFC. Original Recipe fried chicken has between 110 and 370 calories and 7 to 21 grams of fat per piece.
The “second secret recipe” for KFC’s is a combination of six herbs and spices that has been in development for four years. The original copy of the secret grilled chicken recipe, which is stored on an encrypted computer flash drive, will be kept in KFC’s high-security vault alongside Colonel Harland Sanders’ handwritten original fried chicken recipe.
KFC announced the launch of its grilled chicken on Tuesday at New York City’s famed Friars Club, which was unofficially dubbed the “UNFriars Club” for the event.
KFC has been the struggling division of Louisville, Ky.-based Yum’s U.S. brands for more than a year, compared with the positive sales traction at sister brands Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. For 2008, the company reported a blended same-store sales gain of 2 percent for the U.S., but also posted a 6-percent decline in operating profit. For 2009, the company has said it expects to book a blended U.S. same-store sales gain of 3 percent and an operating profit increase of 15 percent. The company no longer breaks out brand-by-brand sales results, but did note last year that KFC was the sales drag on U.S. results. First-quarter corporate results are expected next week.
Yum, which operates or franchises more than 36,000 restaurants worldwide, has unsuccessfully attempted to introduce grilled chicken items at KFC in the past, most recently with the Colonel’s Rotisserie Gold line. This time, however, the cooking process utilizes a new custom-designed, patented oven that slow-grills the chicken and makes it possible to ensure consistently juicy, more flavorful results, the company has said. The franchisor even invested $30 million last year to help franchisees pay for the new equipment needed for the grilled chicken.
Contact Elizabeth Licata at [email protected].
