KFC Not Playing Chicken With Rollout By Jim Kir

CHICAGO - Kentucky Fried Chicken's decision to go national with its Colonel's Rotisserie Gold chicken couldn't come at a better time as even one of its own sister co

Undoubtedly unhappy that parent PepsiCo’s Pizza Hut unit soon will test delivery of a roasted chicken entree, KFC-USA president Kyle Craig last week said KFC’s new chicken product is a major key to its turnaround, but only one step in modernizing what has become an outdated brand.
‘After 40 years of telling people we were America’s fried chicken king, this new product really positions us well,’ Craig said last week.
KFC is spending $50 million behind the launch through Young & Rubicam/N.Y. It is by far the company’s biggest new product launch yet and was needed, according to Craig, in order to catch up and build up profits. Asked if Pizza Hut’s chicken envy is a thorn in KFC’s side, Craig answered diplomatically, saying any company that gets into the chicken business is competition.
‘There is a general blurring in all categories in the last decade,’ Craig said. ‘I think there are a lot of folks getting in under our tent. It’s an early step in transforming and contemporizing the brand.’
But the new product is only one part of the company’s ensuing overhaul. According to Craig, KFC is embarking on an ambitious hospitality training program for its employees and are working on ways to show and display food items. ‘Right now, you can’t see the food before you get it. Some of the product should be sold on impulse.’
The company will also add more choices on the menu, including possibly chicken and pasta dishes or chicken pot pies.
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