So
How About Some Kentucky Fried Veggies?
KFC,
the brand synonymous with chicken, is increasingly putting vegetarian items on
its Indian menu to cater to finicky customers.
You would
walk into a Saravana Bhavan outlet for dosas as you’d enter a Mainland China
for Chinese food or pick a Mc-Donald’s for a burger. Likewise, you would visit
a Kentucky Fried Chicken for, well, chicken, right? Not quite. At least, that’s
what the company would like you to believe.
The KFC menu is increasingly throwing up a number of vegetarian items such as Veg Zinger, Veg Snacker and Veg ZingKong. It would appear that KFC, synonymous with chicken across the world, is turning ‘vegetarian’ in India. In recent months, the brand has followed the launch of a nonveg product with a veg equivalent (Example: Zingkong boxes). KFC now plans to simultaneously unleash veg and nonveg items in the Indian eating-out marketplace, according to Tarun Lal, general manager at KFC India.
Like so many other foreign brands, KFC has been tailoring its strategy to suit local preferences in India. Yet, few rebranding efforts would surprise as the attempts of Kentucky Fried Chicken to walk the line between vegetarian and non-vegetarian food in India. KFC is to fast-food chicken what Nike is to running shoes and Boeing is to planes. Surely, Colonel Harland Sanders, the founder of the restaurant chain, would have been amused, even a tad mortified, by KFC’s approach in India.
Nevertheless, when the brand was relaunched in India in 2004, Yum! Restaurants, KFC’s parent, hit on the strategy of offering vegetarian food in the country almost immediately. Truth is KFC had little choice. Lal says in the Indian context, the brand had to adapt the menu to ensure that it was delivering to the expectations of consumers. “That realisation happened very early in our journey.”
Other major fast-food companies in India have been attempting similar rebranding to accommodate vegetarian items on their menu. KFC’s bigger rival McDonald’s is a notable example of this strategy. Just as it took to baguettes in France, McDonald’s has been offering vegetarian items such as McAloo Tikki Burger, McVeggie and Veg Pizza McPuff in India. The company is stepping up its vegetarian strategy by opening its first full-scale vegetarian restaurant near the Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu & Kashmir and another one near the Golden Temple in Amritsar next year.
Similarly, sandwich powerhouse Subway and pizza major Domino’s too are opening vegetarian-only outlets in India.
What’s Cooking?
KFC itself has a history of tweaking its strategy periodically in many markets. The brand added to the menu a Snacker — as the name suggests, a quick and easy-to-eat patty — radically different from its core offering, the crispy ‘bony’ chicken. In the 1990s, it had withdrawn, much to the consternation of diehard fans and thankfully only briefly, the cardboard chicken buckets. KFC had also retooled its brand image, reintroducing the whole Kentucky Fried Chicken name and the images of Colonel Sanders at many restaurants.
In the backdrop of these changes, KFC’s veg platter shouldn’t be entirely surprising. Why should India, where more and more consumers are dining out and have accepted different kinds of foods from the world, be any different? It represents the company’s attempt to reach out to a larger audience of Indian consumers who are predominantly veg- etarian. “Vegetarian [food] is very, very important to us,” says Lal. “It will play a large role in our strategy in the context of variety. We had to broaden the relevance of KFC across different consumer types in the country,” he says.
KFC’s ambitions in India are significant because in all other markets, vegetarian food plays a limited role.
Shushmul Maheshwari, CEO of research agency RNCOS, had told ET Magazine in an earlier interview that with the increasing competition in the Indian fast food industry, it will become indispensable for companies to customise products. “That will be one of the key strategies for the success of foreign fast-food chains in India.”
In this respect, India has no parallel. This is after all a country of ‘strict’ vegetarians. Not surprisingly, many brands have been taking aim at this section of customers. South-based chains such as Saravana Bhavan and Sagar Ratna have been equally successful in the north. Luxury hospitality chain ITC Hotels is launching a vegetarian brand of restaurants called Royal Vega.
Lal says vegetarian food plays a large role even among non-vegetarians in India. “A non-veg user at a KFC will consume a veg item if there is a great offering in that category,” he says.
Gourmet Pretension?
At present, one in every five products on the KFC menu is vegetarian. Yet, given that vegetarian food contributes only 10% of overall revenues, how serious is KFC about its veg offerings?
Lal agrees that first-time users and infrequent customers that visit KFC would have already made up their minds about eating chicken. But he insists that the brand has a sizeable base of loyal consumers willing to discover new flavours and tastes. This set, he says, are open to exploring vegetarian food. “Indian consumers have a philosophy that they must have vegetarian food also.”
According to Lal, KFC realised early on that vegetarian food will have to play a big role in the overall India game plan. “How big a role was the question.”
The answer became clear as the brand expanded. “The importance of veg food grew as we penetrated the marketplace,” he says. KFC is looking to end this year with 250 restaurants, up from the current 210. It wants to grow to 550 stores by 2015. To get there, it is expanding at a furious pace, already reaching tier-2 and tier-3 markets such as Guntur, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam in the south and Guwahati, Siliguri and Asansol in the east.
“We want KFC to be a brand that is relevant to all Indians. Therefore, it is important hat we take care of the needs of both veg and non-veg consumers,” says Lal.
However, KFC is facing competition not only from chains such as Subway and Mc-Donald’s but also local chains like Haldiram, Nirula’s and Bikanerwala. Over the years, the market has evolved so much that it now offers microwaveable idlis.
Tough Task
But KFC faces a bigger test than rivals. It is after all a company identified with chicken and for the veg fare to stand out will be far from easy. Lal concedes that hitting on the vegetarian tactics has been a challenge. “It’s not an easy job — by just introducing vegetarian products, consumers are not going to flock to our restaurants.”
KFC’s sister offshoot Pizza Hut has had an easier experience, setting aside nearly 60% of the menu for vegetarian items without losing customers. Pizza Hut has also opened a couple of vegetarian-only restaurants in Gujarat.
For its part, KFC has segregated areas used to prepare veg and non-veg food in all its kitchens during the past three years. Employees in the veg section wear a green apron; the tong used is also green. KFC managers invite customers to a kitchen tour to showcase these efforts.
Would that suffice? Remember that this is the same market where McDonalds’ had scrapped the Big Mac — its iconic beef product — replacing it with the Maharaja Mac chicken burger.
In KFC’s case, the brand has amplified efforts in cities like Ahmedabad where it felt religious sensitivities were higher. There are separate queues at the billing counters for veg food. KFC now plans to replicate this model in other cities of Gujarat.
It will also aggressively communicate within stores that the brand is mindful of the sensitivities of vegetarians. Lal says many customers are unaware of a separate kitchen. “We can do a better job.” KFC will also launch a comprehensive ad campaign focused around the veg products.
More importantly, in its biggest menu expansion to date, KFC will add new veg items like Potato Krisper (a potato patty and vegetables in a large bun), Twisters (wraps) and salads to its products early next year.
A Happy Balance
Lal is confident that these plans should help attract people who do not veto veg items. “If your wife is veg and you are a non-veg, we will have a portfolio that will prevent her from refusing to go to a KFC.”
What about exclusive veg outlets? Lal rejects the idea but is quick to add that KFC is still learning in India. “As we become larger, we will base our strategy on what the consumer wants.”
KFC has to do a lot more, says Lal. “Our ambition is to become the No. 1 quick-service restaurant [industry parlance for fastfood chains] brand in India. For this, we have to offer veg products compelling in terms of value as well as range and variety.”
The Ahmedabad experience offers a glimpse into the task at hand. KFC opened separate veg and non-veg counters. Guess what? The number of people queuing up for chicken vastly outnumbered the veg customers, says Lal. “We always knew there is such a strong appeal for our chicken. It still came as a big surprise to us.”
GOING GREEN
KFC’S PLANS TO WOO VEGETARIAN CUSTOMERS
To launch products.
The KFC menu is increasingly throwing up a number of vegetarian items such as Veg Zinger, Veg Snacker and Veg ZingKong. It would appear that KFC, synonymous with chicken across the world, is turning ‘vegetarian’ in India. In recent months, the brand has followed the launch of a nonveg product with a veg equivalent (Example: Zingkong boxes). KFC now plans to simultaneously unleash veg and nonveg items in the Indian eating-out marketplace, according to Tarun Lal, general manager at KFC India.
Like so many other foreign brands, KFC has been tailoring its strategy to suit local preferences in India. Yet, few rebranding efforts would surprise as the attempts of Kentucky Fried Chicken to walk the line between vegetarian and non-vegetarian food in India. KFC is to fast-food chicken what Nike is to running shoes and Boeing is to planes. Surely, Colonel Harland Sanders, the founder of the restaurant chain, would have been amused, even a tad mortified, by KFC’s approach in India.
Nevertheless, when the brand was relaunched in India in 2004, Yum! Restaurants, KFC’s parent, hit on the strategy of offering vegetarian food in the country almost immediately. Truth is KFC had little choice. Lal says in the Indian context, the brand had to adapt the menu to ensure that it was delivering to the expectations of consumers. “That realisation happened very early in our journey.”
Other major fast-food companies in India have been attempting similar rebranding to accommodate vegetarian items on their menu. KFC’s bigger rival McDonald’s is a notable example of this strategy. Just as it took to baguettes in France, McDonald’s has been offering vegetarian items such as McAloo Tikki Burger, McVeggie and Veg Pizza McPuff in India. The company is stepping up its vegetarian strategy by opening its first full-scale vegetarian restaurant near the Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu & Kashmir and another one near the Golden Temple in Amritsar next year.
Similarly, sandwich powerhouse Subway and pizza major Domino’s too are opening vegetarian-only outlets in India.
What’s Cooking?
KFC itself has a history of tweaking its strategy periodically in many markets. The brand added to the menu a Snacker — as the name suggests, a quick and easy-to-eat patty — radically different from its core offering, the crispy ‘bony’ chicken. In the 1990s, it had withdrawn, much to the consternation of diehard fans and thankfully only briefly, the cardboard chicken buckets. KFC had also retooled its brand image, reintroducing the whole Kentucky Fried Chicken name and the images of Colonel Sanders at many restaurants.
In the backdrop of these changes, KFC’s veg platter shouldn’t be entirely surprising. Why should India, where more and more consumers are dining out and have accepted different kinds of foods from the world, be any different? It represents the company’s attempt to reach out to a larger audience of Indian consumers who are predominantly veg- etarian. “Vegetarian [food] is very, very important to us,” says Lal. “It will play a large role in our strategy in the context of variety. We had to broaden the relevance of KFC across different consumer types in the country,” he says.
KFC’s ambitions in India are significant because in all other markets, vegetarian food plays a limited role.
Shushmul Maheshwari, CEO of research agency RNCOS, had told ET Magazine in an earlier interview that with the increasing competition in the Indian fast food industry, it will become indispensable for companies to customise products. “That will be one of the key strategies for the success of foreign fast-food chains in India.”
In this respect, India has no parallel. This is after all a country of ‘strict’ vegetarians. Not surprisingly, many brands have been taking aim at this section of customers. South-based chains such as Saravana Bhavan and Sagar Ratna have been equally successful in the north. Luxury hospitality chain ITC Hotels is launching a vegetarian brand of restaurants called Royal Vega.
Lal says vegetarian food plays a large role even among non-vegetarians in India. “A non-veg user at a KFC will consume a veg item if there is a great offering in that category,” he says.
Gourmet Pretension?
At present, one in every five products on the KFC menu is vegetarian. Yet, given that vegetarian food contributes only 10% of overall revenues, how serious is KFC about its veg offerings?
Lal agrees that first-time users and infrequent customers that visit KFC would have already made up their minds about eating chicken. But he insists that the brand has a sizeable base of loyal consumers willing to discover new flavours and tastes. This set, he says, are open to exploring vegetarian food. “Indian consumers have a philosophy that they must have vegetarian food also.”
According to Lal, KFC realised early on that vegetarian food will have to play a big role in the overall India game plan. “How big a role was the question.”
The answer became clear as the brand expanded. “The importance of veg food grew as we penetrated the marketplace,” he says. KFC is looking to end this year with 250 restaurants, up from the current 210. It wants to grow to 550 stores by 2015. To get there, it is expanding at a furious pace, already reaching tier-2 and tier-3 markets such as Guntur, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam in the south and Guwahati, Siliguri and Asansol in the east.
“We want KFC to be a brand that is relevant to all Indians. Therefore, it is important hat we take care of the needs of both veg and non-veg consumers,” says Lal.
However, KFC is facing competition not only from chains such as Subway and Mc-Donald’s but also local chains like Haldiram, Nirula’s and Bikanerwala. Over the years, the market has evolved so much that it now offers microwaveable idlis.
Tough Task
But KFC faces a bigger test than rivals. It is after all a company identified with chicken and for the veg fare to stand out will be far from easy. Lal concedes that hitting on the vegetarian tactics has been a challenge. “It’s not an easy job — by just introducing vegetarian products, consumers are not going to flock to our restaurants.”
KFC’s sister offshoot Pizza Hut has had an easier experience, setting aside nearly 60% of the menu for vegetarian items without losing customers. Pizza Hut has also opened a couple of vegetarian-only restaurants in Gujarat.
For its part, KFC has segregated areas used to prepare veg and non-veg food in all its kitchens during the past three years. Employees in the veg section wear a green apron; the tong used is also green. KFC managers invite customers to a kitchen tour to showcase these efforts.
Would that suffice? Remember that this is the same market where McDonalds’ had scrapped the Big Mac — its iconic beef product — replacing it with the Maharaja Mac chicken burger.
In KFC’s case, the brand has amplified efforts in cities like Ahmedabad where it felt religious sensitivities were higher. There are separate queues at the billing counters for veg food. KFC now plans to replicate this model in other cities of Gujarat.
It will also aggressively communicate within stores that the brand is mindful of the sensitivities of vegetarians. Lal says many customers are unaware of a separate kitchen. “We can do a better job.” KFC will also launch a comprehensive ad campaign focused around the veg products.
More importantly, in its biggest menu expansion to date, KFC will add new veg items like Potato Krisper (a potato patty and vegetables in a large bun), Twisters (wraps) and salads to its products early next year.
A Happy Balance
Lal is confident that these plans should help attract people who do not veto veg items. “If your wife is veg and you are a non-veg, we will have a portfolio that will prevent her from refusing to go to a KFC.”
What about exclusive veg outlets? Lal rejects the idea but is quick to add that KFC is still learning in India. “As we become larger, we will base our strategy on what the consumer wants.”
KFC has to do a lot more, says Lal. “Our ambition is to become the No. 1 quick-service restaurant [industry parlance for fastfood chains] brand in India. For this, we have to offer veg products compelling in terms of value as well as range and variety.”
The Ahmedabad experience offers a glimpse into the task at hand. KFC opened separate veg and non-veg counters. Guess what? The number of people queuing up for chicken vastly outnumbered the veg customers, says Lal. “We always knew there is such a strong appeal for our chicken. It still came as a big surprise to us.”
GOING GREEN
KFC’S PLANS TO WOO VEGETARIAN CUSTOMERS
To launch products.
Examples: Veg Twister (wraps),
Potato Krisper (patty and vegetables in a large bun)
To launch TV campaigns that will focus on
vegetarian fare
Separate billing counters in cities
such as Surat and Baroda in Gujarat with sharp vegetarian sensitivities
Separate sections in kitchens in
such cities
Aggressive communication within
stores to communicate these initiatives
::
Binoy Prabhakar ET120909
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