KFC Debuts Plant-Based Chicken Chain-Wide, Heating Up the Faux Poultry Wars

KFC found out its customers would flock to a meatless version of its iconic fried chicken in 2019 when massive crowds bought out a week’s worth of plant-based nuggets in five hours during a summer test run in Atlanta. Now the 70-year-old brand has announced a national rollout of the chicken-free product, created with Beyond Meat, starting Jan. 10. The move intensifies the ongoing faux poultry wars, a successor to the meatless burger battle, in the booming alternative protein space. KFC, which is in the midst of a creative and media review, has recruited YouTube star and influencer Liza Koshy to promote the Beyond nuggets in a celestial-themed campaign dubbed “Kentucky Fried Miracle.” Koshy was a spot-on spokesperson because her social content is “equal parts funny, fantastical and slightly unexpected, kind of like the idea of plant-based fried chicken,” according to the brand. Though KFC has built its entire brand on its proprietary fried chicken recipe—made from animals—it was the first national fast food brand to offer a poultry substitute. After the initial experiment in Atlanta, and the overwhelming response, KFC tested the faux chicken product in early 2020 in Nashville, Tenn. and Charlotte, N.C. Months later, the plant-based nuggets were getting a trial run in Southern California, where they sold out within a week. Beyond fried chicken “The mission from day one was simple: make the world-famous Kentucky Fried Chicken from plants,” Kevin Hochman, KFC’s U.S. president, said in a statement. “And now over two years later we can say, ‘Mission accomplished.’” The meatless nuggets, developed specifically for KFC, will come in 6- or 12-piece orders and in the chain’s first plant-based combo meal. The debut comes as Beyond Meat, a category leader in the alternative protein space best known for its burgers and sausages, has been signing new restaurant deals and expanding its faux chicken offerings. The Los Angeles-based brand began supplying breaded plant-based chicken tenders to 400 mom-and-pop diners in July, coinciding fortuitously with shortages of the real thing and resulting price hikes. Beyond, which has a broad deal with KFC parent company Yum Brands, also partnered with Panda Express on a veggie-friendly version of the chain’s popular orange chicken. The pilot program last year in New York and Southern California has since fanned out to some 70 locations. Meantime, rival Impossible Foods dropped its own plant-based nuggets, initially hitting chef-led restaurants and regional chains as well as blanketing its bulked-up grocery channels. The product is available in some 10,000 retailers in addition to Fatburger, Dog Haus and upscale eateries like Marcus Samuelsson’s Red Rooster and David Chang’s Fuku. And last October, Impossible began a test of its nuggets at Burger King locations in Boston, Miami and Des Moines, Iowa. The move deepened the relationship between the two brands, where BK had caused a stir by adding the Impossible Whopper to its menu two years earlier. Other players, from Gardein and Nuggs to Nowadays and Quorn, have added new faux poultry to their lineups and reformulated existing products to improve taste and texture as conventional chicken has become the most widely consumed protein in the U.S. and globally. "Poultry represents the largest share of stomach for mainstream consumers," Zak Weston, analyst at Good Food Institute, told Adweek. "Disrupting that category is a big opportunity space for plant-based meat." Top 5 Plant-Based Food Campaigns of 2021