KFB in Australia: KFC Breakfast Review

So excited were we about the launch of the KFC a.m. range in the UK that we dedicated two review posts to it. In the first, we covered off the amazing range of 7 unique items on offer and sampled the delicious a.m. Charger and a.m. Wrapstar, both of which contained chicken sausages! Be sure to expand the image in that post to see the full, innovative range of items on the menu back in those heady days of 2008.

In the second post, we trialed the a.m. Loader (made with eggy bread!) and a.m. Platter. All products were well received. The Colonel had done it again. Then, with great regret, we had to write a follow up 3rd post, perhaps one of our most negative to date, bemoaning the fact that all of that innovation had been replaced with a bog standard, uninspired breakfast menu and not a chicken sausage in sight.

It was therefore with great trepidation that we entered KFC on Swanston Street in Melbourne's CBD to trial their breakfast offering. The menu hardly looked extensive and the sausage was of the classic pork variety. Were we in for further crushing breakfast disappointment?

We ordered the Chicken, Bacon and Egg Twister. Yes that's right, there's chicken in that there flatbread. Sure, it was no chicken sausage but we can't help but feel that with this product, the Colonel is doing a great job of legitimising early morning fried chicken consumption for all.

The Twister itself was fairly standard in appearance and we immediately missed the lack of toasting - those wraps can sadly be quite 'doughey' tasting without it. Other than that, the general flavour was good with the chicken adding to the mix nicely. The egg was of the scrambled variety rather than the poached version that appeared in the marketing materials. One element we didn't enjoy though was the BBQ sauce. We can get behind chicken before noon but BBQ sauce is morning madness.

In all, we found the breakfast fairly average. For $8.95 including a tasty hash brown and drink it was pretty good value. Or at least that's what we thought until we glanced across the restaurant and noticed what's surely one of the greatest deals of our time. Behold the $5 Brekky Box:

If only we'd known about this before we'd ordered. The only upside of course is that it means we'll certainly be back soon to see just how delicious true value tastes.

For our Brekky Twister:

Taste: 6

Value: 5

Overall: 6

To ensure total fairness, we invited along a fellow chicken aficionado, Matt Hunt'ing for Chicken' to provide an extra opinion:

To be honest I still can’t get my head around chicken for breakfast and also think the chicken may have made the overall wrap seem a touch dry. Something like a breakfast sausage tends to have a bit more fat/juice to it, which generally helps out. But fried chicken, maybe not so much?

 
The wrap – a bit of toasting would have been great. And the BBQ sauce – surely there should be a tomato sauce option here? I’d even suggest a tabasco option could be quite interesting. 

I also thought the hash brown could have been a bit crisper, and even seasoned a bit more

Overall: 5.5/10

KFC AM: a tale of shattered dreams

Breakfast: the most important meal of the day. KFC: the most significant thing to happen to the out and about dining experience since man first developed the sandwich. You’ll have understood our joy then upon first discovering that KFC was running an ops shakedown for a breakfast menu at their flagship Marble Arch outlet. You see, KFC has been slow to innovate of late, resulting in slight variations on existing burgers, different ways to fold a wrap or at worst, the mere addition of an alternate sauce in a long established product. The promise then of a full new menu was so exciting that we naturally had to cover it here at KFB, twice.

KFC AM as it was known was an exciting and boundary-pushing way to start to the day. Eggy bread sandwiches, breakfast wrapstars, grilled(!) tomato ketchup, waffles, porridge and the pièce de résistance, chicken sausages, all featured on the first iteration of the menu. In total around 12 new menu items appeared over the course of the first year. The Colonel had found a way to make breakfasts not only different, not only to contain chicken (and no, eggs don’t count) but most importantly of all: a way to ensure they were as delicious as his long-established lunch and dinner time favourites.

So what of it I hear you ask? Why is my favourite blog referring to KFC AM in the past tense when I saw it advertised on my way to work this very morning? Well, my chicken-loving readers, KFC AM is dead to us. So far removed is the current iteration of the menu that we feel ashamed to associate it with the Colonel. All that innovation, that spark, that unique taste and yes, even that chicken has now been removed. What we are left with is the same bacon rolls, (pork!) sausage sandwiches and scrambled egg that you could find at any sub-par greasy spoon. The wrapstar? A distant memory. The breakfast box meal? Moved on to a happier place. In fact, every uniquely-named product from the original line-up bar the Platter has been removed. And that Platter - it's replaced eggy bread with toast and chicken sausages with Cumberland. Just take a look back at the original line up if you think you can bear the pain and then compare it to the shameful 'range' now available.

We understand that the British public might not have been ready, that they probably voted with their wallets and left us with this. Colonel, we salute you for trying something so unlike the rest, but what we can’t commend you for is not sticking to your guns and pushing harder, adding a little more to your marketing budget, running free trials to help people get over the chicken sausage fear.

You had a chance to be so different, Colonel, so special. But all you’ve left us with is a hole in our hearts once filled with eggy bread, Southern-style buttery breakfast buns and chicken sausages. A hole so large that even a Hot Rod box meal couldn’t fill it. Colonel, you’ve let us down.

KFC AM

One of the final taboos of modern life has been broken, the eating of Chicken for breakfast. KFC is in the process of launching its breakfast menu on an unsuspecting but soon to be eager clientele.

This is not the first time KFC has attempted breakfast, Foodspot.org reports of their paltry attemps in 2004 at an egg end bacon sandwich, paying only lip service to the Chicken (with the egg)

The Company's flagship marble arch branch was chosen to host the ops shakedown of the planned breakfast menu. This is the process whereby one store trials said product and perfects timings, staffing levels, popularity and equipment amongst other criteria.

KFC UK is currently the vanguard, spearheading the development and implementation of KFC breakfasts the world over.

From 6am until 10.30 am those finding themselves in West London can enjoy a breakfast from en extensive range of newly developed products. What's more following the success of the Marble Arch trial, an extended test area has been set up in the Tyne Tees region in the North East of England in a further 15 branches. With it's own local TV advertising the nation waits with baited breath for KFC UK to give the go ahead for a nationwide roll out in the coming months.

In its nascent stages there was an extensive menu featuring some prime time menu items turned breakfast and some entirely new concepts in fine morning dining such as the AM Loader, along with the Breakfast platter which this reporter has been lucky enough to sample.

My First sample was of te A.M. Loader. This product is breakfast, eggy bread, sausage, tomato ketchup, hash brown & bacon make this the greatest fast food breakfast item currently on the market. With wholly oven cooked ingredients there is no greasy griddled sausage patty unlike some competitors. This is a heavyweight breakfast product presesnted in attractive, innovative packaging.

Most recently on the 24th March I opted for the AM Platter which gave me the chance to sample each constituent ingredient individually as well as sampling the new Lavazza coffee which will be rolled out nationwide, replacing the ersatz Nescafe we've had to endure up until now.

First off, the AM platter represents fantastic value for money. For under three pounds (2.79 to be exact) you get: bacon, sausage, hash brown, eggy bread, omelette, regular beans and a Lavazza coffee. I set about eating, in no particular order at first thinking my platter was a little dry. I had of course forgotten to open the beans. The beans however were unnecessary, no ingredient was soggy but nor could any be described as dry. Particular stand outs were the eggy bread, hash brown and sausage. So good in fact that at times i was forced just to pause and let it all sink in, this was haute cuisine fast food.

Of particular interest to myself was the new Lavaza coffee. I was trained by one of the UKs leading coffee experts Paul Meikle Janney at his Yorkshire Coffee Academy. Therefore I wanted to give the coffee a thorough critique. I am pleased to report that this has a true coffee taste, smooth and flavoursome unlike most burnt tasting coffees.I found it full-bodied and fat on the tongue, with the kind of pleasantly fermented fruit tones that suggest chocolate-covered cherries. A shimmer of sharp acidity is balanced by sweetness. The finish is clean, rich and chocolaty. Slightly disappointing in small milk, where the coffee seems to simplify without softening, but in larger milk the fruit and chocolate tones bloom nicely.

There are of course detractors. David Kisilevsky BK vice Pesident said he would be "surprised" if the initiative takes off and went onto say "I believe KFC will struggle to pursuade UK customers to accept a breakfast offering"

However neutral parties take a different view:

Penny Harris, senior inventor for innovation agency ?What If!, called in on day two and was impressed by the food, staff attitude and reaction from customers. 'What struck me is that it felt quite natural. People seemed to take it for granted that KFC was open at that time serving breakfast,' she says. Nonetheless she also questioned its positioning. 'I would like to see KFC communicate a freshness message,' she says. 'The menu offers free-range eggs and smoothies but KFC doesn't seem to want to capitalise on that.'

The real acid test however comes from the customers and judging by the success in London and subsequent expansion, people it seems are voting with their feet.

A letter to KFC HQ

Mr David Goodman
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Dear Sir or Madam,

We here at Kentucky Fried Bloggin’ were very excited when you launched the trial of KFC AM in London last May. Those at KFB’s head office have had the pleasure of a number of the breakfast items. However, those of us diligently working at the regional office in Staffordshire have not been so lucky. It has sadly been some time since I travelled to our nation’s capital and I’ve been unable to sample the AM menu.

I understand that the trial was to further extended to the Tyne Tees area (incidentally a region I have never travelled to for either business or pleasure), I do hope the two trials have been a success and a national roll out is to be unveiled soon? If so I would love to know when this will be exactly?

Reviews of the AM products, especially the ingredient packed AM Wrapstar have been very favourable although the bent towards possibly excessive levels of cheese has been commented upon. Only 1 item on the new AM menu is devoid of cheese and with roughly 5% of Northern Europeans being lactose intolerant, is this wise?

Whilst I’m here I’d also like to take the time to make a few additional comments on the UK operation in general. Firstly it’s great! I’ve recently completed a US tour of KFC’s encompassing Louisville, Kentucky where unfortunately the tail end of last summer’s hurricane Ike prevented us from visiting the Colonel’s grave. Another real treat was in Utah where we visited the world’s fist KFC. . . . . . a dream come true. I have some pictures if you would like to see them? American menus were so varied from branch to branch, but ultimately there was no Zing which for me is the cornerstone of my personal enjoyment of KFC. However of all the KFC’s in all the world the UK’s are the best with by far and away the best menu.

Another great thing you did in 2008 was to entirely overhaul that tired old website for the brilliant paradigm I see before me, it really is the acme of QSR websites. I particularly love the part where, when the graphics are loading, the viewer is told that the website is not ‘loading’ but that it is ‘adding secret ingredients’, genius.

Your constant commitment to product innovation should be applauded, the Flavour Station, Hot Rods (a particular favourite) the Big Daddy Burger and the Wrapstar have all tickled our taste buds in 2008 and we look forward to further innovations in 2009. However, without a doubt, the Zinger Tower burger remains the apogee of your menu.

One small gripe I have though is the ‘Contact us’ section of your website. I found no email address by which to ‘contact you’, it would be great if I didn’t have to damage the planet (and my pocket, though that’s of lesser concern to me) by sending this letter. Any plans to introduce an email contact address?

Our members also wonder if there is a way we can get a complete list of operating KFC branches in the UK in order for us to visit them all and plot our progress on a map at KFBHQ using a system of coloured pins.

We have also composed a prayer, based on the traditional Christian Lord’s prayer. It was amazing actually how easily a false idol such as Colonel Sanders slipped so easily into the role of deity. I wonder, would you like to see it?

I look forward to your reply, and hearing any comments you may have. I do hope you’re able to clear up a couple of the points for me.

Many Thanks
David Goodman

Breakfast comes to KFC

It was with great trepidation that last Saturday I ventured towards KFC's flagship UK branch in Marble Arch, London. For I was about to sample the biggest new addition to the menu we all know and love since the introduction of burgers back in the nineties: KFC AM.

Having heard rumours of the breakfast as far back as last year I was understandably dubious. Was it really true? KFC, for breakfast? Sausages, made of chicken? I had to find out. I set off alone at approximately 8.40 (KFC AM is served between 7.00 and 10.30 am). The indication I stumbled upon was a tactical poster ad at Marble Arch tube:

My interest now piqued, I ventured forth towards the restaurant. What greeted me was beyond all possible imagination, for no less than seven new items have been added to the already glorious range. Be sure to expand the image to the right for the full details (though as this is a test period don't be surprised if we don't see them all for the official launch). In fact, such was the choice that I suffered a momentary lapse in the decision making process. What was it to be? The classic twister, remade with breakfast ingedients? The Wrapstar with literally everything on the AM menu in it? The eggy bread of the Loader - possibly the most unusual of any fast food breakfasts i've seen. In the end though I settled on the Charger. And a sausage one at that. Let's face it, you're all wondering how a chicken sausage tastes right? And the purest test is to try it sans bacon.

So down I sat, Charger in hand. The anticipation was killing me. I had just enough time to snap a cheeky photo before delving into the golden glory in front of me and let me assure you, it was everything i'd hoped for. The sausage was flavoursome and meaty, the cheesy omlette...well it was cheesy. In fact it could be argued cheese has the strongest presence in this menu. From pepper jack cheese slices to cheese omlettes to mild cheese sauce to grated cheese. Dairy product haters need not apply.

Charger: 7.5/10

Next up: the AM Wrapstar.

Paul here. After Al's initial foray into the land of KFC AM, it was my turn. While travelling to Marble Arch, my thoughts were consumed with worry and doubt. Would the new breakfast menu live up to the hype? Surely this could not be the Colonel's first real failure? I turned to the menu as I arrived at the restaurant on Sunday morning - I had already decided to have the AM Wrapstar, but when confronted with the full menu and an impatient chicken technician (till operator) I found myself in two minds. Such choice! In the end, I committed and went for the AM Wrapstar. Aside from the Challenger box meal (only a truly hungry man would attempt this) the AM Wrapstar appeared to be the most feature-laden menu item consisting of no less than 9 ingredients: chicken sausage, bacon, chesse omlette, cheese sauce, hash brown, a tostada, diced tomato, grilled tomato ketchup (yes, grilled) all packaged in a heated tortilla wrap. One thing I had noticed on closer inspection of the product image was the presence of baked beans, carefully positioned between the two central sausages. There was no mention of beans in the product description however - a shame, but none-the-less I found a quiet seat and laid out the meal.

One bite into the AM Wrapstar and I took a good helping of all the layers. The cheese omlette in particular was a taste sensation, complemented by the warm cheese sauce and diced tomato. In terms of meat, the chicken sausage and bacon combination were both hearty and filling. As I reached halfway, I looked down, only to spot several baked beans languishing centrally between hash brown and sausage. The promotional poster was indeed accurate, taking the tally of breakfast iungredients in the AM Wrapstar to 10. Let me just say this - if you're seeking some kind of early morning sustenance, look no further.

AM Wrapstar: 8.5/10