Answer
Jun 27, 2018 - 06:42 PM
First off, never part with the ingredients that made the company famous in the first place.
The American public is smarter now. Especially with the internet and social media in the forefront. People are more opinionated and more aware in the age of technology.
Long gone are the days of living off of the brands name that was built by Colonel Sanders decades ago and watching the money roll in.
Stop with the gimics and smokescreens and go back to the basics of making real, down home good food. Stop trying so hard to be everything for everybody. All the honey bbq's and this product and that product development will overstretch your menu.
Think about the workload of underpaid employees. The faces of the franchise (next to Colonal Sanders)
Focus on quality, not quantity. Think of what made the franchise great in the beginning and recapture that magic. People pay for a good experience and quality service. No one wants to be greeted by a fake smile and poorly prepared, greasy food.
Laser focus on making good, quality chicken and mouthwatering biscuits made in-house from scratch using all natural ingredients producing a product that will speak for itself.
If money is tight, start at the home headquarters in Louisville Kentucky and see what works and what doesn't. I wish I could have a talk with KFC’s new chief marketing officer Andrea Zahumensky. I could start a new career as a KFC consultant.
Provide transportation for those key employees around the country who can't make it in at 4am to prepare that food from scratch every day.
I know of a woman who makes the best (real) baked macaroni and cheese, Fresh collard greens with pigs feet or ham cut fresh from the bone. (She did this for 40 people with only one other person) The same can be done for the mass produced food if you can locate the right people and pay them well.
Have each restaurant perform quality inspections of food. Make sure the food looks and taste good at all times. Hire employees with naturally pleasant attitudes. Employees with bad attitudes reflect poorly on the franchise location and will further tarnish the company's reputation.
Every company should know of the saying "You get what you pay for". If want to keep getting what you're getting, keep on doing what you're doing, for better or worse.
In other words, If KFC continues pushing out poor quality food and displays poor customer service, you will eventually chase your customers out the door forever. As I've learned, the quality of food at one location does not reflect the quality of food at another location. If you want quality food, you will pay for it. If you want quality employees, you will pay them well and not according to the national standards. Break the mold and think ahead.
It's no wonder that small companies less than five years old can come into an industry and surpass dinosaur companies in sales and customer service who've been in business for 50 or more years. These new age companies have different view or perspective and fresh ideas accompanied with old school philosophy and they understand the value of hiring and keeping good employees. The future of any successful company depends solely on the people who stand behind it. I've learned that when you pay people what they're worth, they work stronger, harder and longer and will go above and beyond to build your brand.
If you want to keep getting what you're getting, keep doing what you're doing, for better or worse.
I've read articles and seen videos where KFC employees expose the reuse of days old food and mixing it with the new food. Not good for the brands image at all! Not mention the rumors of using steroids on the chicken. True or not, this sends a very bad signal to the public.
I know if I had millions of dollars at my disposal, I would pay to save my company and brand no matter the cost. If you're paying employees $9 per hour, pay $12 to $20 per hour to your key employees around the country to prepare real, down home good food at each restaurant in every state. Prepare freshly baked cakes and sell by the slices throughout the day.
Advertising is always a plus if you get a positive reaction, but people don't like to be sold garbage anymore.
I found these snippets from articles on another site;
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/kf...
Keep in mind these article snippets are from 2016.
"KFC has lost more than 1,200 net restaurants in the US in the last 14 years, going from 5,472 locations in 2002 to 4,270 restaurants."
"While buckets of Original Recipe chicken can be prepared perfectly in KFC’s test kitchen, ensuring chicken is made “the hard way” at every KFC location is a much more difficult task. Unlike reheating frozen food (like McNuggets) or preparing food in front of customers (like a Subway sandwich), there’s a much wider margin for error when cooking is put in the hands of employees."
“Operations, quite frankly, has been broken for a long time,” says Hochman."
KFC’s difficulties in maintaining quality are complicated by its biggest fried chicken competitor. Chick-fil-A has some of the highest ratings for taste and customer service in the business — a fact analysts say allows its locations to make triple the revenue of KFC restaurants.
In my personal opinion, I think that KFC can be great franchise as they once were, but you also have to remember that we now live in the age of millenials and social media. Trends are changing all the time and new companies are sprouting up fighting for the top spot on a regular basis.
If I had the money to compete in the fast food arena or any arena of interest, I would use what I call the Google method.
Keep it simple! Athough there's lots of technology behind the scenes at Google, they understood very early on that in order to stay on top, they needed to give the people what they wanted by keeping the end results organized, easy to find and produce fresh or relevant content. Look at all the search engines that have come and gone since the inception of Google. (Most Notably the demise of Yahoo) Over 20 years later they have out performed their competitors to become the best and most recognized search engine to this day hands down. When people think search, you don't say "search engine" or "search it", you say "Google" or "Google it".
This is what KFC needs to do to revive their products and brand. They need to work on being identified as a single or (whole) unit which sells the same exact product around the country and the world. I've lost count of the number of times where I've gone to different KFC locations in my hometown of Pittsburgh PA. and the food tasted different at almost every location within 5 or so miles of each other. Sometimes the food was downright awful.
When people think chicken, you don't want them to say Chic-fil-a or some other chicken franchise, you want them to think KFC first.
Don't cheat people with low quality or poorly cooked meals prepared by high school kids who want nothing more than a pay check.
Most of them could care less about the quality of food. Dont become a bottom feeder. No, I'm not saying fire or not to hire young people, but hire dedicated individuals who seriously take pride in your brand and deliver service with a smile every day. KFC must look into hiring older respectable people with a real food background and pay them well. The benefits will far outweigh the money it will cost to hire professional help.
The return will come back double or even triple nationwide because people will know that you are serious about quality and high level of service.
People are more health conscious. Step out of the comfort zone and sell healthy smoothies or other real and healthy foods.
Everything doesn't have to be artificial or some kind of substitute to save money. While I understand that it is important to save money and cut cost, investing in specialist who are dedicated to their craft will pay for itself a million times over.
Go back to the grassroots and fundamentals on which the franchise was originally built upon and mix that with today's standards and demand for KFC will continue to grow.
Have local or regional managers go out to stores and make sure the standards are being met. Leave feedback cards in customers bags and on tables at restaurants. Stay relevant in the minds of your customers by selling great tasting quality food.
The American public is smarter now. Especially with the internet and social media in the forefront. People are more opinionated and more aware in the age of technology.
Long gone are the days of living off of the brands name that was built by Colonel Sanders decades ago and watching the money roll in.
Stop with the gimics and smokescreens and go back to the basics of making real, down home good food. Stop trying so hard to be everything for everybody. All the honey bbq's and this product and that product development will overstretch your menu.
Think about the workload of underpaid employees. The faces of the franchise (next to Colonal Sanders)
Focus on quality, not quantity. Think of what made the franchise great in the beginning and recapture that magic. People pay for a good experience and quality service. No one wants to be greeted by a fake smile and poorly prepared, greasy food.
Laser focus on making good, quality chicken and mouthwatering biscuits made in-house from scratch using all natural ingredients producing a product that will speak for itself.
If money is tight, start at the home headquarters in Louisville Kentucky and see what works and what doesn't. I wish I could have a talk with KFC’s new chief marketing officer Andrea Zahumensky. I could start a new career as a KFC consultant.
Provide transportation for those key employees around the country who can't make it in at 4am to prepare that food from scratch every day.
I know of a woman who makes the best (real) baked macaroni and cheese, Fresh collard greens with pigs feet or ham cut fresh from the bone. (She did this for 40 people with only one other person) The same can be done for the mass produced food if you can locate the right people and pay them well.
Have each restaurant perform quality inspections of food. Make sure the food looks and taste good at all times. Hire employees with naturally pleasant attitudes. Employees with bad attitudes reflect poorly on the franchise location and will further tarnish the company's reputation.
Every company should know of the saying "You get what you pay for". If want to keep getting what you're getting, keep on doing what you're doing, for better or worse.
In other words, If KFC continues pushing out poor quality food and displays poor customer service, you will eventually chase your customers out the door forever. As I've learned, the quality of food at one location does not reflect the quality of food at another location. If you want quality food, you will pay for it. If you want quality employees, you will pay them well and not according to the national standards. Break the mold and think ahead.
It's no wonder that small companies less than five years old can come into an industry and surpass dinosaur companies in sales and customer service who've been in business for 50 or more years. These new age companies have different view or perspective and fresh ideas accompanied with old school philosophy and they understand the value of hiring and keeping good employees. The future of any successful company depends solely on the people who stand behind it. I've learned that when you pay people what they're worth, they work stronger, harder and longer and will go above and beyond to build your brand.
If you want to keep getting what you're getting, keep doing what you're doing, for better or worse.
I've read articles and seen videos where KFC employees expose the reuse of days old food and mixing it with the new food. Not good for the brands image at all! Not mention the rumors of using steroids on the chicken. True or not, this sends a very bad signal to the public.
I know if I had millions of dollars at my disposal, I would pay to save my company and brand no matter the cost. If you're paying employees $9 per hour, pay $12 to $20 per hour to your key employees around the country to prepare real, down home good food at each restaurant in every state. Prepare freshly baked cakes and sell by the slices throughout the day.
Advertising is always a plus if you get a positive reaction, but people don't like to be sold garbage anymore.
I found these snippets from articles on another site;
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/kf...
Keep in mind these article snippets are from 2016.
"KFC has lost more than 1,200 net restaurants in the US in the last 14 years, going from 5,472 locations in 2002 to 4,270 restaurants."
"While buckets of Original Recipe chicken can be prepared perfectly in KFC’s test kitchen, ensuring chicken is made “the hard way” at every KFC location is a much more difficult task. Unlike reheating frozen food (like McNuggets) or preparing food in front of customers (like a Subway sandwich), there’s a much wider margin for error when cooking is put in the hands of employees."
“Operations, quite frankly, has been broken for a long time,” says Hochman."
KFC’s difficulties in maintaining quality are complicated by its biggest fried chicken competitor. Chick-fil-A has some of the highest ratings for taste and customer service in the business — a fact analysts say allows its locations to make triple the revenue of KFC restaurants.
In my personal opinion, I think that KFC can be great franchise as they once were, but you also have to remember that we now live in the age of millenials and social media. Trends are changing all the time and new companies are sprouting up fighting for the top spot on a regular basis.
If I had the money to compete in the fast food arena or any arena of interest, I would use what I call the Google method.
Keep it simple! Athough there's lots of technology behind the scenes at Google, they understood very early on that in order to stay on top, they needed to give the people what they wanted by keeping the end results organized, easy to find and produce fresh or relevant content. Look at all the search engines that have come and gone since the inception of Google. (Most Notably the demise of Yahoo) Over 20 years later they have out performed their competitors to become the best and most recognized search engine to this day hands down. When people think search, you don't say "search engine" or "search it", you say "Google" or "Google it".
This is what KFC needs to do to revive their products and brand. They need to work on being identified as a single or (whole) unit which sells the same exact product around the country and the world. I've lost count of the number of times where I've gone to different KFC locations in my hometown of Pittsburgh PA. and the food tasted different at almost every location within 5 or so miles of each other. Sometimes the food was downright awful.
When people think chicken, you don't want them to say Chic-fil-a or some other chicken franchise, you want them to think KFC first.
Don't cheat people with low quality or poorly cooked meals prepared by high school kids who want nothing more than a pay check.
Most of them could care less about the quality of food. Dont become a bottom feeder. No, I'm not saying fire or not to hire young people, but hire dedicated individuals who seriously take pride in your brand and deliver service with a smile every day. KFC must look into hiring older respectable people with a real food background and pay them well. The benefits will far outweigh the money it will cost to hire professional help.
The return will come back double or even triple nationwide because people will know that you are serious about quality and high level of service.
People are more health conscious. Step out of the comfort zone and sell healthy smoothies or other real and healthy foods.
Everything doesn't have to be artificial or some kind of substitute to save money. While I understand that it is important to save money and cut cost, investing in specialist who are dedicated to their craft will pay for itself a million times over.
Go back to the grassroots and fundamentals on which the franchise was originally built upon and mix that with today's standards and demand for KFC will continue to grow.
Have local or regional managers go out to stores and make sure the standards are being met. Leave feedback cards in customers bags and on tables at restaurants. Stay relevant in the minds of your customers by selling great tasting quality food.
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