An American Odyssey, Part 5: Utah

The Wikipedia entry for Utah tells us three important and seemingly unrelated things:

1:Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,736,424 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering around Salt Lake City.

2:According to Walmart, Utah has the fewest number of Walmart stores per capita at .081 per 100,000 people.

3: According to the National Restaurant Association, Utah has the lowest rate of restaurants per capita with 4,691 restaurants at a rate of 0.0017 restaurants per person.

What it fails to do is make the link between these three seemingly unrelated facts. Utah is host to the world's first KFC in Salt Lake City, and so, why would Utahns want to live anywhere else, eat at any other restaurants and even buy food anywhere else?

We arrived from Idaho in the North, bathed in glorious sunshine. If Kentucky was Mecca then Salt Lake City is surely Medina. Tourists throng here ostensibly to see the imposing edifices built by the Mormons, or so the church tells us. The truth is far more simple, they have come to visit 3,890 South State Street, the location of the world's first KFC opened by franchisee Pete Harman in 1952.

The original building was replaced in 2004 by a super KFC cum museum cum conference venue, and is also home to a fabled all you can eat KFC buffet. It is a strange venue, seeming to operate operates quasi independently keeping some of the original Harman's branding side by side with the usual KFC livery.

Inside was large and clean. There were specially designed tables, whose tops feature historical KFC photo's and documents. There was even a conference suite available for hire and a few museum pieces were scattered about here and there, such as one of the Colonels white suits in a glass case, and, most excitingly there was a gift shop.

Outside was a large parking lot with a paved area and some tastefully landscaped borders. the centerpiece of these gardens were the bronze statues of Harland with Harman, a popular attraction amongst the store's visitors. The store also boasted a bucket atop a pole emblazoned with the words " World's first KFC"

The Colonel's all you can eat buffet was the centrepiece of this cornucopia(sadly featuring no boneless chicken items, & so denied to pariahs such as myself) We had seen one or two advertised but hadn't really believed that they could actually exist, to see it for ourselves was just emotionally overwhelming. It brought to mind the scene from Willy Wonka, except this played out in my head as being with the Colonel as he opens a large door with the words, "Ladies & Gentlemen, Boys & Girls. . . . . . The Chicken room!" In which everything you see is made of Original recipe chicken.

Satiating our hunger with the colonels offerings we then pressed our faces up against the glass at the gift shop. Many things here had the dual Harman's/KFC branding but two particular items jumped out

1: a Colonel Sanders style long black bowtie and 2: the chance to own my very own relic. The manager Tracy Gingel had saved some bricks from the demolition of the original building and was offering them for sale to the faithful. We clamoured to purchase ours and watched with awe as he diligently packaged our bricks into a chicken box whilst regular diners looked on confusedly. Tracy and I chatted Chicken for a short while before it became time to leave.

And with that we drove off into the desert towards the West.

KFC Paninis: The Gourmet Lunch

Monday 27th April saw the launch of KFC's new time limited offer, (TLO) Paninis, strap line: The Gourmet Lunch.

It just so happened that this was the very day I'd planned a trip to KFC's Stourbridge branch and thought that whist there, I should quickly pop into the West Midlands Safari Park nearby. My friend will swear that infact the day was planned the opposite way round, which I let her keep thinking, we however all know different.

I had been promised by Jenelle Tilling, VP of marketing that this new TLO would appeal specifically to my penchant for spicy boneless chicken. She was not wrong. What she didn't know is that I have a particular fondness for chutney too, and here we have a product containing a Zinger Chicken Fillet & fire roasted spicy pepper chutney.

My Spicy Chicken Panini arrived promptly in an elegant brown and orange paper bag incorporating a cellophane viewing window through which you can whet your appetite whilst on the way to your table.

Having opted for the spicy version I found, ensconced within my panini roll, an entire Zinger Fillet cut length ways to expose the juicy Chicken within, and allowing me to see a rich seam of zing marbling the meat. This was topped with melted cheese and finished with a smothering of fire roasted spicy pepper chutney.

The Panini was long, hence the need to cut the chicken lengthways and so provided a sizable portion. The use of a new type of bread was an interesting change to the usual Sesame Kaiser bun. It was light but perhps a tad dry towards the edges where there was a low concentration of moist sauce and cheese. However a dunk in gravy (3 Step) soon solved that minor quibble.

There was a generous helping of both cheese and chutney and the spice of the chutney complemented the Zing superbly. Towards the centre the burger continued to improve. With this in mind I employed a dual end approach to the eating in order to finish on a high. The highlight was the final bite containing maximum concentrations of all ingredients.

Marketed as the "Gourmet Lunch" the Panini really does offer a chic(ken) element to KFC, encompassing style and sophistication, and the idea of a quick light lunch on the go. The use of high end ingredients such as fire roasted pepper chutney or a sunblushed tomato sauce also helps to reinforce this chic image.

If anything perhaps the Panini was a little long and could have been better prepared using 2 or 3 Mini Fillets to ensure a more even distribution of Chicken. It also lacked that familiar crunch of hash brown to which I am a slave. Finishing my meal with a bite of Zinger Tower it was only then that I felt I was home.

KFC Paninis 7/10

The Panini comes in two varieties, Spicy or Italian Chicken. Retailing at 3.49 each or4.49 for a meal, the Spicy Panini uses a Zinger fillet and the Italian an Original Recipe fillet.

The Panini is an LTO and will be available for roughly 6 weeks when we can expect its replacement, starting June the 8th.

Stourbridge KFC is a double decker branch with an upstairs seating area. It shares space in a building with a branch of Halfords and also the bathstore. It was a clean and modern branch with attentive staff and notably clean tables.

It also sits within the trial area for KFC chillers which I was thrilled to be able to try. I opted for the cookie crush which was enjoyable if not in need of a slight amount of extra creaminess.

Of course the usual test applied, as well as trying the new TLO a Zinger tower was also ordered and the Stourbridge branch I'm pleased to say passed with flying colours. This is a restaurant the town should and can be proud of.

Zinger Tower 8/10

KFBloggin's KFC HQ trip - Part 3

We left you previously with the appalling revelation that DG does in fact NOT EAT CHICKEN ON THE BONE. If you think you’re shocked, imagine what our good hosts for the day were thinking. I’m almost certain I saw a small gravy coloured tear emerge from the head of HR’s eye. But undeterred he was not. Within mere moments he had left the room in order to ensure Zinger Towers were on the menu for our test kitchen lunch. Time passed slowly while he was out of the room. Minutes dragged on like hours. Just as we were about to give up all hope, he returned.

"It’s ok guys, I’ve secured some Zinger Tower burgers for lunch"

Relieved, we all sat back in our chairs.

"There was one hitch though. We're out of buns"

Good lord! Surely the Colonel’s own test kitchen shouldn’t have run out of buns, what was to happen? A bunless burger? Perhaps we could use hash browns in place of the bread?

“But don’t worry, we’ve sent a very senior finance director down the road to pick some more up for you from the local branch”

This right here my readers is what it feels like to be chicken royalty. So, the meeting was up and we made our way to the test kitchen with a pool of drool trailing our every move.

"Welcome to the kitchen guys, I’m Chris Fells, Product Excellence Director"

And so it was that we met the man whose job it is to eat KFC multiple times a day (look out for a further post on this incredible individual soon). As soon as we entered the facility the smell hit us like a fried chicken punch to the face. How on earth the office workers sat just outside the doors managed to ever get any work done is beyond us. Lunch was awaiting us in a boardroom situated within the test kitchen itself, giving us a whole new appreciation for the notion of working lunches. As we sat down to we were informed that the room was lit with special lighting to ensure that the product could be inspected as if being eaten in a glorious summer’s cornfield. This was surely true dedication on HQ's part?

Before even a bite reached our quivering lips, a group of people entered the room. It was at this point that we were introduced to none other than the UK KFC managing director himself, Mr Martin Shuker, as well as Luis Perl, Senior Brand Manager and Jenelle Tilling, VP of Marketing. I myself had the distinguished honour of being seated next to Martin and striking up a fascinating conversation about the history of the Zinger Tower Burger (launched in 1998 dontchaknow), a product launch he personally oversaw. Martin also informed me that he visited at least 25 branches a week, a feat even Obad himself is yet to equal.

Yes, the chap in the shirt to the right of the photo really is the KFC UK MD.

Lunch was served. Piping hot OR chicken and fries were carried in on lavish serving plates by Nicola Fenn, Quality Assurance Technologist and the UK’s greatest KFC chef. Describing the food as delicious doesn’t even begin to do it justice and yet just as we were thinking this couldn’t get any better and DG was running out of skin to pick from the meat, the Zinger Towers arrived. We can safely say that these were the greatest ZTs we had ever tasted, even surpassing the famed Fleet Services branch’s offering.

DG had previously and never again will be this happy

Ladies and Gentlemen, we had truly arrived in chicken heaven.

Join us next time for a guided tour of the testing facilities.

Paninis hit the big time

Spotted yesterday in the Farringdon, London branch and already sampled by this very blogger back in November, Paninis are on the menu nationwide in Spicy and Italian chicken varieties.

Look out for a full report from DG very soon.

KFC releases delicious new product!

It is with no small measure of excitement that KFBloggin' announces the (long-rumoured) launch of KFC's newest product range! Firstly, and perhaps most shockingly we have this news straight from the hallowed inter-pages of KFC's American website.

THE LAUNCH OF KENTUCKY. GRILLED. CHICKEN.





Yes indeed, after the products sucess in certain asian countries the healthier food movement has reached even the chickeny walls of KFC's original stores! Lauching april 27th (whereupon dedicated fans can visit any participating U.S branch for a free sample) this new form of kentucky chickenage is rumoured to contain nearly half the calories of a traditionally coated drumstick. Indeed, the website shows happy, faintly ridiculous dancing customers metaphorically EXPLODING with energy after partaking of the golden-grilled goodness.

Readers of this blog might like to visit the website, play the ddr-kfc game, laugh at the dancers/chefs in the videos and, "LOL" at the jokes about coupons (KFC reaching out to an internet based audience - say it ain't so!). But all this show and bluster fails to prevent this blogger from getting to the root of the problem -

Is it any good?

Rest assured, we here at KFBloggin' HQ will not rest until a proper taste test has been carried out. And on the off chance that the product IS sucessful - will we be seeing it soon in English stores? Our sources say - probably!

What do you think KFC fans? Delicious innovation or disgusting mistake that would make the Colonal roll over in his grave?