Weekly Mailer Guest Food Review (Issue 06/08/09)

When Kentucky Fried Chicken recently unveiled their newest creation, Grilled Chicken to the public, who would have thought it would have achieved such publicity? Of course, anytime Oprah Winfrey gets involved the chances are pretty good. To achieve more advertising, Kentucky Fried Chicken approached Oprah regarding downloadable coupons good for a free, 2-piece chicken meal. In May, Oprah, hoping to give a boost to families affected by the economy, announced it on her show. Nationwide, news stations reported that over 4 million people approached local KFC’s to redeem their coupon and the restaurant chain was caught off guard. Finding the large number of people overwhelming and as many restaurants did not have enough inventory, Kentucky Fried Chicken was unable to honor the free coupons. Instead, they provided rain checks and sweetened the deal with a free beverage. For a moment, it seemed as though there may have been a chicken shortage on KFC’s horizon, but in all actuality was a true marketing gem for the franchise. When hearing talk of juicy, grilled chicken in the news, I became susceptible to both curiosity and cravings. Soon, I found myself in the drive thru. When the employee asked whether I would like Original, Extra Crispy or Grilled, I simply answered “All three, please”.


Places To Visit:


Kentucky Fried Chicken
243 Overland Avenue, Burley
Hours: Mon.-Thurs 11:00 a.m. - 9:30 p.m.,
Fri.-Sat. 11:00 a.m.-10:00 p.m., Sun. 11:00 a.m. -9:00 p.m.
Phone: 678-3311
Website: www.kfc.com


I did not make things as simple as believed by ordering all three, after all. By visiting the nutrition guide at KFC’s website, I discovered that by caloric comparison the three choices vary greatly. A piece of Original Chicken Breast has 370 calories, Extra Crispy a whopping 490, while the Grilled chicken breast has 180 calories. The kids and I did a taste test and thankfully, the Extra Crispy came in last. Opinions soon divided as the children went “old school” and preferred the Original, while my preference was the Grilled. A ten piece meal with three sides runs $17.99. Speaking of sides, my favorite at KFC is the Mashed Potatoes and Gravy. I think its really yummy and in my book competes with the chicken itself. Never one to let a tiny, little calorie get in the way of flavor- I almost decided ignorance is bliss and did not want to know how many calories it had. Only for the greater good did I look it up and there were a few surprises… Between Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, Macaroni and Cheese or Potato Wedges, which do you think had the most calories? If you chose the Potato Wedges you were right! An individual serving of the wedges has 260 calories, the Mac and Cheese has 180, while the Mashed Potatoes and Gravy had the least at 130. This gives new meaning to “one piece or two piece”, and now the subject matter is not about chicken- I’m talking about bathing suits!