KFC, the chicken kingpin desperately in search of a new identity, announced Friday that it will roll out Original Recipe Boneless — which executives insist may be the brand’s most important step forward since it was founded more than 60 years ago.The risky move, three years in the making, is KFC’s very public admission that its core product — a big bucket filled with fried chicken legs, thighs and breasts on the bone — may be banished to the dustheap of fast-food lore.
Replacing it will be boneless white and dark meat chicken chunks about twice the size of tenders — but still deep-fried with the same super-secret herbs and spices. The target: an ultra-finicky generation of Millennials.
“This is the biggest new product introduction for KFC in modern times,” said John Cywinski, 50, a former McDonald’s brand strategist who has been U.S. president of KFC for two years.
“This will be one of the great American turnaround stories,” Cywinski said.
Or not.
The national rollout of Original Recipe Boneless on April 14 comes as the $200 billion fast-food industry is in turmoil. Fast-casual chains such as Panera and Chipotle have snatched serious market share, and much-improved supermarket takeout sections have lured away customers.
KFC, which has 4,400 American restaurants, also has a timing problem: Most folks prefer to go there for dinner — yet, the fast-food industry’s mainstay is lunch. Just as crucial, the demand for convenience that lets folks drive with one hand while gobbling lunch with the other has left KFC scrambling to create one-fisted foods.
