I just came across an article on the Yahoo! Buzz Log that asks Beef in the Chicken? The article explains that the Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise has used beef powder in its grilled chicken sandwich. I am curious to see how this affects the KFC brand in the long term, but I can see how the brand image could take a hit over the next few weeks. Especially since El Pollo Loco reportedly learned of KFC’s use of beef from one of its Twitter followers. Ah, the power of social media.
The post states: “Oh, it’s on now! El Pollo Loco (aka “the Crazy Chicken” to all you non-Spanish speakers) has called out its bitter rival Kentucky Fried Chicken over KFC’s use of beef in its grilled chicken. Say what?
EPL says that KFC is using “beef powder” and “rendered beef fat” in its highly touted grilled chicken sandwich. The maniacs at the Crazy Chicken have even launched a website, BeefyChicken.com, that mocks KFC’s reliance on moo meat. Oh, and commercials, too.”
The more I keep reading this post, the more ridiculous it sounds. At first, I thought the beef flavor was in all chicken recipes, then just KFC’s new Kentucky Grilled Chicken. But now on reading it a third time, I realize its just the chicken sandwich. Did I read that correctly? The seasoning on the grilled chicken sandwich at KFC apparently contains, according to KFC, the beefy 
flavors that “account for only 0.2% of the total seasoning.”
Talk about making a big deal out of nothing. At first, I thought the KFC was going to take a HUGE hit that would require some new branding strategy and some serious PR damage control, but now I believe that some consumers are overreacting and this will blow over within the next few weeks.
Granted, I am an omnivore and could care less if my chicken has beef flavors, but I am sure there are some die-hards out there that feel that their chicken is tainted with trace amount of beef. I don’t eat seafood, but still suck it up and deal with the anchovy paste in Caesar dressing fairly often.
Granted, I am nowhere near any El Pollo Loco franchise, I just hope the EPL brand doesn’t take this too far, because I don’t think it’s a big deal. But, an overreaction could be as damaging to the EPL brand as this news is probably damaging for the KFC brand, who has already issued one apology this year…
