KFC: Strategy

KFC not chicken to serve veg platter

Vegetarian delights: A view of KFC at the Planet Yumm food court in Chennai.

While ‘finger lickin' fried chicken' is its USP, this Louisville-based brand didn't want the veto factor by a vegetarian to play against it in India. Indians eat in groups and there are at least a couple of vegetarians in the group who might turn down the choice of KFC as the eating destination because of a lack of choice for them.

Sensing that this may happen, KFC in India now has a parallel vegetarian menu. Something that the founder Colonel Harland Sanders wouldn't have imagined would happen when he started Kentucky Fried Chicken in 1952.

KFC also ran into rough weather when it logged into India in the 1990s with protests from activists on the chemical content in its ingredients.

On its brand promise and delivery in India, it's all about value, and about taste that appeals to its core audience, namely, the young adult. The plan is to take the store count to 500 in another five years, with 80 per cent of the stores owned by the company and the rest franchised.

While Tier 2 towns such as Goa, Vizag, Mangalore and Guwahati have done very well because of the pent-up demand, these would continue to comprise about 20 per cent of its overall store count.

The Indian branded qsr (quick service restaurant) market is currently estimated to be at about Rs 3,000 crore.

A KFC outlet now has about 2000 walk-ins a day. The qsr chain has seen a 6-7 per cent increase in average ticket size from last year and a 10 per cent increase in the number of transactions from the same period.

The company is also testing home delivery in select markets and will roll out the service soon in all its outlets.