People enjoy fast food. But policymakers, doctors, and dietitians call these foods unhealthy.
Fast food chains are forced to reinvent their foods and provide their clients with healthier options. But are the customers ready for it? Hear what KFC executive has to say about it.
Fast foods chains and their healthier options
Fast food chains are usually multinational companies that minted a lot of money due to their fast foods that are liked by people of all ages.
But fast foods are linked to various chronic metabolic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, heart ailments, blood pressure, etc. Doctors and experts in Dietetics are requesting people to stop having these fast foods.
They are urging people to go for healthy balanced foods and meals. These fast food companies run the risk of going out of business or bankrupt. Hence to remain in business, they started making healthier alternatives to their popular fast foods.
Fast food chains (Source: YouTube)Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) had therefore started nonfried alternatives to their selling food items. But unfortunately, no customers or only a few customers opted for these foods.
These options turned out to be commercially unsuccessful. A KFC senior executive in the UK said:
“no one is buying them,”
KFC’s health by stealth new approach
Realizing that the healthier food options in their fast foods did not hit the masses, KFC has ceased producing them. Instead, they have adopted now for the health-by-stealth approach.
In this novel approach, the company is remaking the previous fast food but with reduced saturated fat, sodium, and sugar. Therefore, the total calories of these foods are reduced.
The UK has come up with a policy in which all labels of food items should contain the number of calories, fats, sugars, and sodium per serving or unit.
This is in keeping with the global pressure for healthier food for the public. Public Health England (PHE) has proposed to decrease the maximum limit for calories of these ready meals to 544 in one serving.
KFC (Source: Pinterest)Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) has gone a step further and asked the government to ban all public outlets that are in the close neighborhoods of schools.
KFC has 900 franchisees in the UK. The UK government and lawmakers are pushing for strict measures to ensure healthy food for its citizens and publthe ic.
KFC’s earlier unsuccessful healthier alternatives
KFC started healthier food alternatives to its fast foods as early as 2011. But it did not click with the public. That year it launched the Brazer grilled chicken sandwich.
In 2012, it started serving Rancher sandwiches and it offered a pulled chicken in 2015. All of these had lower caloric contents in them. The company started making thicker chips so that they absorb less oil.
The firm also spends 8 million pounds for oven installation to grill and bake meals instead of deep frying. But now due to poor sales, all these menu items are out. Their investments fell flat. Jenny Packwood, KFC UK and Ireland’s Head of Brand Engagement said:
“It didn’t go brilliantly well. We tried and we failed to launch a non-fried product. They were just not selling. It’s no good launching a product that looks good nutritionally but then nobody buys,”
Pulled chicken from KFC has been pulled out (Source: Facebook)Read more KFC fast food chain’s secret food recipes unveiled!
Though some people are making a switch to healthy foods, most would still prefer taste over health.