KFC® in the News

KFC COOKS UP "WORLD'S LARGEST POT PIE"

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22,100 POUND CHICKEN POT PIE

TO BREAK GUINNESS RECORD

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THE BIG APPLE MEETS THE BIG CHICKEN

NEW YORK (October 18, 1995) -- KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) announces the arrival of its newest menu item today in a record-breaking way -- by building the "The World's Largest Pot Pie."

The gigantic pot pie -- measuring 12 feet in diameter by 4 feet deep and weighing in at 22,100 pounds -- will be unveiled to a noontime crowd in Manhattan's Bryant Park on 42nd Street at Sixth Avenue. KFC President and CEO David Novak and Melanie Barnard, author of "365 More Ways to Cook Chicken," will ceremoniously serve the first piece with an appropriately oversized eight-foot fork. Hovering over the entire process will be the "World's Largest Chicken Balloon," a 75-foot-tall chicken-shaped hot-air balloon.

The huge creation, which easily tops the previous Guinness Book world record of 19,908 pounds set in England in 1988, celebrates the introduction of KFC's Chunky Chicken Pot Pie to the more than 5,100 KFC restaurants nationwide.

"With our new pot pie, we're going for a record of our own -- the best-tasting, best-selling and best value pot pie in the business," said Novak.

The two-hour assembly of the giant pot pie begins at 4:00 a.m. with a team of more than a dozen chefs. The pie is then cooked for six hours with a special steam-heating system built into the custom pie tin. Officials from Guinness Book of World Records and New York's Bureau of Weights and Measures will be on hand to independently verify the record-breaking feat.

"This is a great way to dramatize how big a hit we think Chunky Chicken Pot Pie will be with our customers," said Keith Chambers, a KFC franchisee and chairman of the KFC National Cooperative Advertising Program, Inc.

Made with the same filling and crusts as its smaller restaurant counterpart, "The World's Largest Pot Pie" requires 9,000 pounds of chicken pieces; 1,500 gallons of chunky, savory pie filling created especially for KFC by Campbell's Soup Company; and more than 1,500 individual Pepperidge Farm pie crusts to form the giant crust. Chefs will begin assembling the crust at 11:00 a.m., a process taking about an hour.

Broadway performers will stage an original rendition of "Everybody Needs a Little KFC," the theme music used in KFC advertising, before individual-sized pot pies are given to the onlookers. The Broadway chorus line of dancing peas and carrots also will perform a tribute to the more than 600,000 peas and 300,000 carrot pieces in the jumbo pie. In addition, the pie boasts more than 240,000 potato pieces, 180,000 chicken pieces and 200 pounds of flour in the crust.

KFC plans to donate the contents of "The World's Largest Pot Pie" to City Harvest, a not-for-profit organization serving New York's hungry. The record attempt is possible with the assistance of the Arthur D. Little Company which created the custom pie tin and the Gas Research Institute, which assisted in heating the pie.

People who miss the giant pie event in New York can try Chunky Chicken Pot Pie in a more convenient 13-ounce size at KFC restaurants nationwide. The pot pies are sold with a flaky KFC biscuit and retail for about $3 79 (Prices may vary.)

KFC Corporation, based in Louisville, Ky., is the world's most popular chicken restaurant chain specializing in both fried and rotisserie chicken and homestyle sides. For more than 40 years, KFC has been "America's Leading Kitchen For Convenient Meals," serving customers delicious, already-prepared complete family meals at affordable prices. There are more than 9,400 KFC outlets in 78 countries around the world serving more than six million customers each day. KFC is a subsidiary of PepsiCo, Inc., Purchase, N.Y. (PEP).

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