KFC unleashes biggest overhaul to its menu in decades
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Fast-food giant KFC has revealed its biggest menu overhaul in decades, as chicken becomes the new frontier in the takeaway battleground.
The first big shift? A complete transformation of its signature tenders.
From today customers will notice a change to KFC’s chicken tenders Australian Financial Review
The Australian Financial Review reported that over the past 18 months, a team of chefs has developed an updated version of a KFC menu mainstay – chicken tenders.
KFC senior innovation development manager Kathryn Lake told the AFR that customers wanted bigger, more plump tenders after “a high number of complaints about them”.
This spurred KFC to develop a new chicken tender, described as a crispier and juicer thanks to a change in the way they are cooked.
KFC South Pacific chief marketing officer Vanessa Rowed told the AFR: “We are the leaders in chicken, but there are competitors catching up.”
It comes as chicken has muscled its way into the menus of countless fast-food chains in recent months.
IBISWorld Industry analyst Sebastian Quinn recently told nine.com.au the shift to chicken being a major menu drawcard was most evident in burgers, where it had moved from a secondary option to a core menu offering.
“Since the early 2020s, major chains have expanded their chicken burger ranges,” he said. “Hungry Jack’s launched Jack’s Fried Chicken in 2021, McDonald’s introduced the McCrispy in 2023.”
The popularity of chicken was even an influence behind FishBowl’s decision to rebrand to ThisBowl earlier this month.
KFC launches new chicken tenders Supplied
“We have all these different things, and now we’re at a point where fish is just no longer the majority,” ThisBowl chief marketing officer Lexi Cotcamp told nine.com.au.
“Chicken is the most popular protein in Australia, as well as many other countries in the world.”
ANZ analyst Michael Whitehead said the chicken boom came about post-COVID as families started prioritising affordability.
“Chicken also has that perception of being slightly healthier, even if it’s fried, people still perceive it as better than beef,” he told nine.com.au.
“So that’s the main driver behind the shift. Chicken is just more versatile in terms of formatting with nuggets, strips, tenders, burgers, and it holds up better in delivery as well.”
While KFC promises it won’t touch its 11 secret herbs and spices recipe as part of its new menu offering that will continue to unfold over the next year and a half, the brand has signalled redesigns to the menu items we’ve grown accustomed to over the past 58 years.
