Colonel Sanders' KFC: From Gas Station to 142-Seat Restaurant - Essay Sample

Introduction

Colonel Harland sanders incorporated Kentucky fried chicken known as KFC today in Corbin, Kentucky in 1955(Dawson, 2015). After he opened his gas station in 1929, he started selling food to customers in the backroom with the recipes his mother taught him. He began his 142-seat restaurant after news spread about the perfection in his cooking (Dawson,2015) After the close of his restaurant due to the beginning of World War II he began franchising his recipe by convincing restaurants to add his chicken recipe to their menus. By 1963 he had franchised more than 600 outlets with 17 employees began to grow, and got recognized worldwide was first opened in the United States and then in Canada a year later.

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Since then KFC has grown and spread to other 142 countries with over 21000 stores around the world (Davis& Kasnic, 2018). KFC mainly specializes in making fried chicken but has expanded its line of business to other chicken recipes like roasted chicken, side dishes, and desserts' offers delivery services to customers. More so, values customer feedback in improving their products and coming up with new recipes. The mission of KFC is to sell food in quick and friendly surroundings that satisfy the pride and health of consumers endeavors to be the leading incorporated foodservice group based on the reliability and quality of products and services' is known for the incorporation of services that include delivery services to its customers.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

Global Presence

KFC has an established global presence. It is present in over 142 countries around the world, with over 21000 stores (Davis& Kasnic,2018). KFC has been ranked the world's 2nd biggest restaurant chain, and market leader in countries in the non-vegetarian sector (Achola, 2016). KFC also shares a corporate owner, Yum Brand, which has the power and resources to improve KFC as a restaurant.

Variation in the Menu

KFC offers a difference in the list to its consumers' changes it's menu and food it provides depending on the country that it operates. KFC offers vegetarian dishes in India to cater to vegetarian consumers has also announced the introduction of low calories dishes like swapping fries for mashed potatoes made from real potatoes. Customers, however, remain loyal to the original recipe of colonel sander, 11 herbs, and spices, one of the secrets in the catering business. The unique replica of the method to cook the chicken signed by the founder is kept in Louisville headquarters in a safe with other herbs and spices (Ludwick & Hess, 2019).

Weaknesses

Negative Publicity

KFC receives much complains about the quality of its chicken from PETA. Selling chicken wings alongside the kidney has also received a lot of negativity and advertising, which damages the firm's reputation. The company has also been accused of feeding the chicken with excessive amounts of antibiotics and hormones (Omer, 2018).

Unhealthy Food menu

KFC menu mainly consists of recipes with a high number of calories, salt, and drinks. The lists receive protests from the organizations that campaign against obesity and calorie related diseases hence reduction in the sales of KFC products. Some consumers also always opt for healthier choices, and this contributes to a decline in sales in KFC.

Opportunities

Increased Demand for Food That Is Healthy

Around the globe today, there has been an increase in the need for healthier foods could take this as an opportunity to introduce healthier recipes that cater to such consumers. By so doing, the weakness of having high-calorie meals could be turned into strength. Achievement of this requires conducting extensive research ion the preferences of customers depending on the region it is located (Smith, 2015). Customer feedback can also be evaluated to determine the preferences of the customers and improvements that can be made concerning existing recipe. KFC could target to introduce other meals like beef and pork to its only chicken range meals. This strategy will target a broader customer base hence increasing the revenue of the firm.

Home Meal Delivery

The KFC firm could test delivery services and fully exploit it to create more opportunities and reach more customers; therefore, more customers' satisfaction. The firm should also look into improving customer services by including faster means of payment, a method their competitors have not incorporated (Davis& Kasnic,2018).

Threats

The Trend Toward Healthy Eating

There have been worldwide campaigns to fight obesity and related calorie diseases. This has led to people becoming more conscious of the foods they eat than the menus that KFC has to offer. There have been concerns about the health hazards of oil used by KFC to cook; the oil is related to heart disease.

Lawsuits Against KFC

KFC has faced many lawsuits and lost in a few of them. Trials are very costly to follow up through and require a lot of time and resources. As KFC continues to grow and expand in profitability and size, the probability of more expensive lawsuits coming is very high. Such trials include one involving a healthy organization suing KFC against the use of oil that was associated with heart disease (Dawson, 2015). The suit sought to force KFC to stop using Tran's fat and relatively warn people about its health hazards.

Strategic Recommendations for Competitive Advantage

Since KFC is already facing a challenge of people shifting towards healthier foods with low calories, there is a need for KFC to look into healthier recipes that are low or calorie-free.KFC needs to introduce more robust and vegetarian options to its menus. KFC has pledged to introduce price incentives as part of trying to convince customers to switch to healthier food options. There has been a worldwide call for people to avoid high-calorie foods as it causes diabetes and other diseases. This move will not only increase the popularity and improve the image of KFC but also widen its customer base hence more revenue for the firm (Genoveva & Siam, 2017). The general manager for KFC in his announcement mentioned that the move would not only provide tasty ranges of healthier dishes but would also help customers make lighter choices depending on their preferences.

The new plan of KFC to test delivery services and fully exploit them should be taken into consideration as a way to increase customer satisfaction and create a competitive advantage against other related firms. While major companies are making changes to improve means of delivery, ordering through the mobile phone, and using robots to replace employees, many such companies are forgetting the need to come up with strategies to foresee customer satisfaction.KFC says the firm is focusing on areas that are more customer minded (Genoveva & Siam, 2017). The most recent invention is customer payment, which allows customers to use android, Samsung pay and other means of payment because it does not have an app of its own. With the implementation of this strategy, the amount of infrastructure and security is improved. This will speed up the process of customer service.KFC has put plans to partner with DoorDash delivery services. By so doing, KFC will be able to collect customer feedback on how they prefer delivery services without necessary, making significant investments in the sector.

References

Achola, M. A. (2016). Franchising as a Market Entry Strategy by Kentucky Fried Chicken into Kenya. Unpublished MBA Thesis, University of Nairobi.

Davis, B., & Kasnic, D. (2018). The Future of America's Economy Looks a Lot like Elkhart, Indiana. The Wall Street Journal.

Dawson, V. (2015). How colonel Sanders made Kentucky fried chicken an American success story. Smithsonian Magazine.

Genoveva, G., & Siam, S. T. (2017). Analysis of marketing strategy and competitive advantage. Journal of Economic & Management Perspectives, 11(1), 1571-1579.

Ludwick, C. M., & Hess, B. T. (2019). Famous Kentucky Flavors: Exploring the Commonwealth's Greatest Cuisines. Indiana University Press.

Omer, S. K. (2018). SWOT analysis: The tool of organization stability (KFC) as a case study. Journal of Process Management. New Technologies, 6(4), 27-34.

Smith, R. (2016). Bucket in My Hand: Kentucky Fried Chicken Advertising, American Dream Discourse, and the Hunger-Obesity Paradox.