Wednesday 9 September 2015

KFC Ricebox Review

Here at KFB we've been critical in the past of KFC's failure to genuinely innovate. For a long while it seemed that each new Time Limited Offer (TLO) was essentially a chicken burger with a different sauce.

However when they go ahead and innovate and introduced last period's Burrito we stayed silent, but to try and correct that course I present a review of their latest TLO - The Ricebox:

Promising Steamed Tex Mex rice, Bean Salsa, Fresh Lettuce and Zinger chicken, this represents a real departure from the norm where KFC have consistently opted for a bread based carbohydrate component. Although the recent Burrito contains rice, that meal also came with Fries and I wondered upon seeing the first street ads for this whether the tradition meal format would survive.

It hasn't, for £4.99 you get a Ricebox (O.R. or Zinger) and a drink. An optional regular side is priced with a 50% discount at 50p.

I tried this at one of my favoure branches, Goldenhill in Tunstall, Stoke-on-Trent during the evening rush at about 18:15. Service wasn't too quick and my server apologised upon handing me my bag. Whether as a concilliatory gesture for the perceived delay or poor training I shall never know but I opened my nicely weighty bag to see a portion of fries sat atop my ricebox.


First look:
The plain brown minimalistic packaging gave it quite a refined look that didn't scream 'fast food'.

Disappointingly the cellophane window designed I'm sure to tantilise the expectant diner with a first glimpse of the feast that awaits them was smeared with an unidentified sauce (believed to be ranch) rather ruining the experience, but offset by the knowledge that my box was full to bursting.

Having finlly figured out how to open the box I was greeted with:

a mess!

My bag hadn't contained the sturdy looking wooden fork displayed on the marketing images so I opted for a company plastic spork which barely survived its travails.

The salad I expected to be cold as well as the salsa, the Chicken I expected to be hot, the rice I didn't and still don't know. It was either cold to start with and had picked up a bit of heat from the Chicken breast or had been served only lukewarm.

However I dived in, and overall enjoyed a pleasent experience. The salad and bean salsa (primarily kidney beans) provided a range of flavours and textures that kept the whole thing fresh and it was moist throughout. There was no surfeit of rice but neiher was it a stingy portion.






Overall this would make a great lunch, perhaps not big enough for my evening meal but a great addition to the current fast food ensemble which stands out as a unique offering amongs the big 3.

I felt the price point was a little high and breaks with the traditional 3 item meal. (perhaps the addition of a small dessert would make £5 seem a good deal). Another minor gripe was the cutting of the chicken which had not gone clean through and was quite difficult to manage with only aforementioned spork.


Whilst not to my personal taste this is a good crack of the whip which  deservs a 7.5 out of 10



9 comments:

Anonymous said...

The sauce is sour cream.

They have used the wrong lettuce, must have run out of the Apollo Lettuce (same used on the Ultimate Burger) and have substituted iceberg. You should also have been given a salad fork rather than a spork.

It looks as though the build is slightly wrong. It definitely shouldn't be that messy! The rice goes on the bottom of the box, then a scoop of salsa, then the lettuce, then the chicken on top with the sour cream to finish it off.

Poor show in launch week.

dg said...

Great commenting! thanks

Christina E said...

Usually buy 6 piece bargain bucket, £9.99 excellent value. Fancied a change so opted for Rice Box x 2 ....big mistake. Packaging great, although didn't buy the food for the packaging. How do you eat salad or chicken with a SPOON? Chicken was warm, salad cold and not quite sure what rice was supposed to be, it was neither! Overall, portion too small and really disappointing, would have been great if as implied there had been chicken in it. OVERPRICED

Colin p said...

I purchased one of these yesterday, disappointment would not even come close, the chicken w around the size of a mini fillet, I would guess around a tablespoon of rice and the rest was just lettuce. It didn't even fill half the box. Won't be buying one again as I could of bought 2 mini fillet burgers and got a lot more food.

Anonymous said...

My purchase was from kfc chichester. A tablespoon of rice topped with lettuce and salsa. The chicken seemed larger than a mini fillet but the whole dish did not fill half the box. This should be labelled as a kids meal. Overpriced.

Ash said...

I don't usually buy food from fast food outlets, but I was very hungry and KFC was round the corner- I looked at the menu, and I saw the Zinger Ricebox- looked healthy (500 calories only!) and at £4.49 I thought it would be a substantial lunch. VERDICT- Very delicious. The rice was full of flavour and the chicken was crispy with a bit of spice. It was only a small box- so not substantial, but nevertheless, very tasty. I'd buy it again.

Anonymous said...

KFC needs to fire their ad agency.

Unknown said...

Extremely small piece of chicken . You think at that price you would at least put a decent amount of chicken in the rice boxes. I got 3 tiny pieces in mine . Bloody rip off. Not worth the money . The rice isnt that nice either .

Unknown said...

Exactly. These rice boxes are a rip off