LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Combine Oprah Winfrey’s endorsement with a chicken giveaway and what do you get? For KFC, the result was an avalanche of attention, some positive, some negative, for its national rollout of Kentucky Grilled Chicken.
The frenzy briefly overwhelmed the chain, which promised free-meal rain checks for customers who couldn’t redeem their online coupons, first posted May 2, because stores ran out of the meals or stopped honoring the offer because customer traffic threatened to get out of hand.
KFC now sees the promotional roller coaster as a blessing.
“The critical thing for us was to get people to eat the chicken, whatever it took,” KFC president Roger Eaton said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Overall sales are up since the chain famous for fried chicken rolled out its long-tested grilled version April 19 in hopes of luring health-conscious customers and reviving lackluster U.S. sales. The company says it’s encouraged by steady sales of the new meal since the launch, indicating customers are coming back to have it again.
KFC, a subsidiary of Louisville- based Yum Brands Inc., won’t reveal sales numbers since the grilled chicken rollout, but Eaton called the early results “transformational” for a brand that has struggled with its heritage of fried food in the U.S., even while expanding rapidly overseas, especially in China.
“Clearly, we’re bringing in a lot of new customers,” Eaton said.
