KFC® in the News

Contact:
Laura Melillo (502) 456-8042
Jeff Beckman 312 240-2648
Mary Puckett 312-240-2655

LIKE COLONEL, KFC CHEF'S COUNCIL LISTENS TO CUSTOMERS' TASTE BUDS

Secret Recipe for New Product Success:

Operators Taste, Rate, Evaluate to Give Customers What They Want

LOUISVILLE, KY, May 21 / PRNewswire / -- Colonel Harland Sanders, Kentucky Fried Chicken's founder, didn't have an extensive research and development department with test kitchens and laboratories when he created his famous secret recipe chicken. All he had was his taste buds, a gut instinct for what customers want and a commitment to quality. Today, KFC's new product development efforts are led by a group who, in the spirit of the Colonel, use their knowledge of consumer tastes as well as their own taste buds to determine new menu items for the nation's largest chicken restaurant chain.

The "KFC Chef's Council", a team of six franchisees and operators and two "chefs" from the KFC kitchen, develop, taste, rate and evaluate new product ideas, just as the Colonel did more than 40 years ago. Nothing makes it on the KFC menu until it clears the taste buds of the KFC Chef's Council. And so far, their taste buds have been right on, with two successful product launches.

The council was formed by David Novak, president of KFC-USA, a little over a year ago and includes some of KFC's most experienced franchisees, including Pete Harman, the Colonel's first franchisee. The council's first two new products, Chunky Chicken Pot Pie and Colonel's Crispy Strips®, are national successes. Both products launched in 1995. At its introduction, Chunky Pot Pie averaged 13 percent of total sales and currently sustains a sales rate of 8 percent to 10 percent. Colonel's Crispy Strips averaged 15 percent of total sales at its introduction and, today, contributes 10 percent of sales, 85 percent of which is new business. For 1996, KFC projects that Chunky Chicken Pot Pies will contribute an additional $240 million and the Colonel's Crispy Strips $350 million in sales revenue. The council also helped develop KFC's newest product, Tender Roast®, which was introduced in late March and is projected to generate $500 million in sales during the next 12 months.

Council member George Tinsley learned the importance of giving customers only the best-tasting food from Colonel Sanders himself when he started his career 20 years ago working as a training instructor along side the Colonel in KFC's original training kitchen. He remembers advice the Colonel would give trainees. "The Colonel would come into the training center, roll up his sleeves and start cooking gravy. All the trainees would gather around him and watch. That was the Colonel's way of letting the trainees know that the quality of every item on the menu was important." Tinsley added, "Then he'd taste the gravy and tell the trainees, 'If it doesn't taste good, don't serve it to the customer!'"

KFC franchisees have a special term for their customer commitment -- "Coloneling".

On many occasions, the council has sent products back to the test kitchen for further development when they know the taste wouldn't meet their customer's expectations. According to Harman, "The key to a successful product is great taste. If we don't think it tastes fantastic, we go back to the drawing board and try again."

The Chef's Council members are from all over the country, representing the regional taste preferences of their customers. This regional representation plus their combined food-service experience of more than 200 years make the council experts in their own right. And, according to Joanne Plichta, head of KFC Research and Development and a member of the Chef's Council, the council's expertise is helping step up new product development. "With help from the Chef's Council, we can now move products faster through the development process, so new products reach customers faster."

Why Franchisees/Operators?

According to council member Jerry Haynie, an Arkansas KFC franchisee for 28 years, Novak chose franchisees and operators for the KFC Chef's Council because they know the KFC customer best. "Since the days when the Colonel shook hands with customers in his first restaurant in Corbin, KY, one of the greatest strengths at KFC has always been its relationship with the customer," said Haynie. "This council shows that we still listen to what our customers have to say. If they don't like it, we won't make it. It's that simple."

Council member Tim West, who operates KFC restaurants in Mississippi, Tennessee and Alabama adds, "Good feelings about the product are key to knowing what the customer wants. It has to be a quality product you believe in, one that's simple and exciting. Fifty items are tasted and discussed at each council meeting; 46 don't make it. We're very choosy because we want the best products going to our customers."

Once a new product has passed inspection by the Chef's Council, KFC's market research department runs additional tests. On a weekly basis, 100 people who represent customers come in to taste the newest products. Two to three tests are conducted each week. If the products receive a good taste rating, they are tested in three or four cities. But chances are, if a product made it past the choosy "chefs" on the KFC Chef's Council, it will be well received by consumers.

Colonel Sanders founded Kentucky Fried Chicken when he sold his first franchise in 1952. After retiring from running his restaurant in 1956, the Colonel used his $105 Social Security check to travel the country selling KFC franchises full time. Today, with more than 5,100 restaurants nationwide, KFC is the leading chicken restaurant chain in the U.S. providing complete meals for the entire family.

1996 Archives | Back to WKFC News