Kentucky Fried Chicken or KFC China rolled out its first ready-to-eat packaged foods including Luosi rice noodle and fried chicken rice meal. (Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn)
Kentucky Fried Chicken or KFC China, the fast-food chain unit of Yum China, rolled out its first ready-to-eat packaged foods including Luosi rice noodle and fried chicken rice meal starting this month to attract young consumers.
The new series of products, are considered an extension of KFC's catering services and are designed to allow young consumers to experience KFC's foods at more diversified scenarios, said an industry expert.
The new products will be available at KFC restaurants in 23 cities since Oct 12, according to KFC.
Consumers can also order and buy online through its mobile application, WeChat official account and WeChat mini program.
What makes the news a hot discussions on the internet is the brand of the series — Kaifengcai, which is colloquially referred to as KFC for short.
In China, the fast food chain's largest market worldwide, when locals type in KFC, one of the suggested word choice in Chinese is Kaifengcai, which translates as Kaifeng cuisine.
Kaifeng city is in Central China's Henan province. The East Dawning, a Chinese cuisine fast-food chain unit of Yum China, registered the brand this year.
Zhu Danpeng, an independent food and beverage analyst, said KFC has quick responses in its drives of localizations.
The recent introduction of ready-to-eat packaged food featuring Luosi rice noodle — an iconic dish in Liuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, is a vivid reflection of their constant innovations in mixing with creative and trendy ideas generated locally.
The new product series is to drive the visiting traffic of the catering brand and to further capture young consumers' pursuits for novel tastes so as to differentiate from its rivalries, he added.
Ready-to-eat package food serves also an effort for KFC to reduce costs while raising profits, said Zhu. Yum China currently has more than 10,000 stores under its multiple brands including KFC, Pizza Hut and Coffii &Joy in more than 1,400 cities on the Chinese mainland.
