KFC Offers Healthier Chicken Choice

Well, it looks like even KFC is crumbling to the pressures of all those health nuts out there. Coming up soon at your friendly neighborhood KFC, Kentucky Fried Chicken staff will soon be (gulp) grilling chicken. What? No more thick, crusty, crunchy batter covering that chicken? No more grease dripping off a chicken leg, landing on your shirt as you tear off a hunk?

Folding to the demands of the health conscious, offering grilled chicken is just another step in the right direction for KFC. Having replaced all their oil with zero trans fat cooking oil last year, KFC decided it was time for another change in the right direction. The Associated Press reports that KFC executives say they have over 14,000 restaurants scattered all over the world to serve you. And they do just that--mete out chicken and all the trimmings to over 12 million hungry eaters a day (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23768357/).

Suspected to have lost large groups of consumers due to the focus on healthy eating over the last several years, KFC seems poised to bring in health conscious eaters by adding more healthy fare to their menu. Even so, KFC representatives adamantly state those hungry for that crispy, batter-dipped coating on their chicken need not fret. Offerings of that good ole, fried chicken will still be available, and at about the same price as the new grilled chicken.

Not the first time KFC has tried other methods of preparing chicken, their representatives are hoping the third time is a charm. First altering how they cooked chicken in the 90s, KFC offered rotisserie chicken back then. However, the need for special equipment and extended cooking times brought its demise. Next, KFC offered a roast chicken selection, which--if I remember correctly--was pretty tasty. Alas, it, too, fell by the wayside a year or two later.

Owned by the Yum brand worldwide (http://www.kfc.com/menu/chicken.asp), KFC's brother and sister chains are Taco Bell, Long John Silver's, Pizza Hut, and A & W All-American Food Restaurants. Expanding into the healthy food realm by adding grilled chicken at KFC just makes good business sense. At least in the U.S., the focus on wellness and healthy nutrition has driven many away from KFC's current offerings.

A smart move by KFC executives, adding grilled chicken can only expand their business at this point. I, for one, have not had a battered-dipped, fried piece of chicken since (sigh) 1987 or so. Thus, it is rare that I pull in to my local KFC. However, hearing they will soon have grilled chicken may be just the thing to lure me back. Now, can I have a double order of gravy, a dollop of mashed potatoes, and 2 biscuits with that?

References:

Associated Press. March 23, 2008. KFC Plans to Offer Grilled Chicken on Menu. MSNBC. Found at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23768357/ .

KFC, Yum Inc. website. Found at http://www.kfc.com/menu/chicken.asp .