KFC Free Grilled Chicken. Photo: Jennifer Lawinski
Everybody likes free chicken.
And anyone who walked through the doors of KFC Monday got one free piece of grilled chicken in the chain's third "UNFry Day" promotion. KFC is touting the grilled chicken as a healthier alternative to its fried varieties and has launched a Web site for its "Grilled Nation" of "UNfried" chicken eaters.
The previous promotions proved so popular, restaurants ran out of chicken and had to provide rain checks. This time, things seemed to be moving in an orderly fashion.
Slashfood hit the busy lunch hour in downtown Brooklyn, N.Y., where diners lined up -- sometimes up to 20 deep -- for free chicken.
A former Wall Street executive has plucked himself a new career trying to unlock Col. Harland Sander's fried-chicken secret.
Ron Douglas, a former finance director at J.P. Morgan, has been experimenting in the kitchen over the last few years in an attempt to crack KFC'sworld-famous Original Recipe, the New York Post reports. With his sixth attempt, Douglas thinks he's finally done it.
"Nobody knows what those 11 herbs and spices are, Douglas told the paper. "But if you taste my chicken, you would find the flavor very similar to KFC."
Do you have what it takes to be the next Colonel Sanders?
KFC is searching for a new face for its Kentucky Grilled Chicken (KGC) food line. The fast-food chain is calling for video submissions on its MySpace page through July 7, 2009, in an "Ultimate KGC Fan" contest.
The chicken chain wants entrants to make submissions saying why they should be the new face of the grilled chicken product, which was unveiled in April.
At stake is a lifetime supply of Kentucky Grilled Chicken, which company officials value at $13,000. Semifinalists will be selected on July 25 and the public will have the chance to weigh in on Aug. 1.
Do you remember those Kentucky Fried Chicken commercials from all those years back? You know, the ones that touted the Colonel's secret blend of 11 herbs and spices. Turns out, that blend is such a secret that when the company (now simply known as KFC) realized that the combination of vaults and locks might be a little vulnerable, they hired a security company to beef up the level of protect, and used an armored guard to move the recipe from one location to another. That's one special spice blend. The video of the transfer is after the jump.
Folks at Kentucky's Cave Hill Cemetery have a bone to pick with PETA over a tombstone that the animal rights group recently placed near the KFC founder Col. Harland Sanders' grave to mark the anniversary of his death.
At first blush the marker seems to contain little more than a loving poem addressed to "Kind Friend of Chickens." As you can see from the above photo it actually contains an acrostic that reads "KFC TORTURES BIRDS." Officials at the Louisville cemetery say they were tricked and want the headstone removed. "We do not believe in being part of any political message at all," said Mac Barr, board chairman of Cave Hill Cemetery. "We believe that this is directed at Col. Sanders and KFC, and again, if we had known this in advance we would not have permitted this." Well, by gum I l think you might be on to something there Mac.
The plot was purchased by Matt Prescott, the brains behind the group's Kentucky Fried Cruelty campaign, which takes aim at KFC because its "suppliers cram birds into huge waste-filled factories, breed and drug them to grow so large that they can't even walk, and often break their wings and legs." Even if such horrific claims are true PETA's taking its campaign to the boneyard is particularly dastardly. [via Neatorama]
Until a fast-food restaurant places ads on the moon, the publicity stunt that KFC used to unveil its new logo earlier this week gets my vote for most bizarre. The chicken purveyor placed a gargantuan logo in the Nevada desert, making it the first brand visible from outer space. The outsized ad measures 87,000 square feet, a whopping six-and-a-half times bigger than the dome of the Taj Mahal.
The new logo is part of a rebranding effort that includes using the name Kentucky Fried Chicken along with reintroducing the slogans "Finger Lickin' Good" and "11 Secret Herbs and Spices." Forgive me while I indulge in some greasy childhood nostalgia as I ponder those slogans. The new logo sports bolder colors and a more defined graphic of the chain's late founder Colonel Harland Sanders. In addition to the crisper likeness, the good colonel has shed his white suit in favor of a red apron.
It's great that KFC is getting back to its roots and letting folks know that the colonel was a real person, but did they really need to build what amounts to a corporate version of the eighth wonder of the world? Gregg Dedrick, president of KFC Corp. had this to say: "If there are extraterrestrials in outer space, KFC wants to become their restaurant of choice. For now, we'll be very content satisfying the entire human population ... Besides, who knows if extraterrestrials even have fingers?" Umm, OK then.
While watching the Pistons play the Cavs this weekend, I couldn't help but see (sadly, several times!) the commercial for KFC's attempt to get in on the bowl trend (about two years too late, mind you) with the Cheesy Chicken Mashed Potato Bowl. Apparently, this thing is mashed potatoes, then gravy, then corn, then fried chicken pieces, then grated cheddar cheese.
Folks at Kentucky's Cave Hill Cemetery have a bone to pick with 
Until a fast-food restaurant places ads on the moon, the publicity stunt that 
While watching the Pistons play the Cavs this weekend, I couldn't help but see (sadly, several times!) the commercial for KFC's attempt to 
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