KFC's latest promotion includes its original Famous Bowl and a new Spicy Famous Bowl, featuring Nashville Hot sauce, available for $3 each for a limited time. The Famous Bowls typically sell for $5.
In the quick-service space, 2018 was dominated by value competition with nearly every player jockeying to see how low they could go to generate more traffic. Despite Yum! Brands sister chains Taco Bell and Pizza Hut taking part in this game of Limbo, KFC hasn't really been a big part of this most recent value conversation.
That should change with KFC's latest promotion – its original Famous Bowl and a new Spicy Famous Bowl, featuring Nashville Hot sauce, are now available for $3 each for a limited time. The Famous Bowls typically sell for $5.
According to Brand Eating, the last time KFC discounted its Famous Bowls was all the way back in 2014. Now is as good a time as any to bring back the deal. Not only have these value wars conditioned consumers to expect value prices, but January is also typically a slow month for restaurants as consumers recover from heavy holiday spending.
By leveraging value with its Famous Bowls line, KFC is finally injecting itself into the value narrative and doing so with a menu item that's quite popular. Bowls were first launched by the company in 2006 and the product generated immediate success. According to an NPR story at the time, one KFC manager attributed a 12% sales lift specifically to the bowl launch.
During Yum! Brands' investor day in December, CEO Greg Creed noted that KFC has become more relevant through every day $5, $10 and $20 value. Good news for the company, to be sure, but perhaps not as appealing for value-chasing consumers headed to McDonald's for its $1 $2 $3 Dollar Menu or grabbing $1 Nacho Fries from Taco Bell.
Of course, value is tricky. Brands have to compete for accessibility as the industry gets aggressive on the lower end of the barbell, but they also have to dance a tight line to avoid profit margin erosion.
KFC CEO Tony Lowings touched on this challenge during investor day.
"Another brand truth or truth of our category is that value is very important in driving sales. And it sounds easy, but to get that value equation right so you drive long-term sustained profitable growth requires lot of careful thoughts and actually scientific formulation," he said.
KFC should be able to strike this balance by only offering the deal through Jan. 27.
At the same time, the company is also likely to incite a completely different conversation – one focused on its latest unconventional gimmick created to promote the deal. On Thursday from 1-5 p.m., KFC will host a popup event in Brooklyn in which consumers can receive a 1990s-inspired bowl haircut in honor of the $3 Famous Bowl promotional pricing. (Apparently 90s styles are making a comeback).
"With the help of real, actual hairstyle designers, KFC created five stylish, modern-day takes on the bowl cut hair style," the company said in a release.
Those five hair styles are aptly called the original recipe, the spork and bowl, the over the top, the Colonel's stripes and the gravy fall.
And, yes, the company even has a digital lookbook for consumers to show their stylists if they can't make the New York event. Those consumers are then encouraged to show off their #KFCFamousBowl cuts on the brand's Twitter page.
It might sound absurd, but haven't all of KFC's recent promotions? The brand seems to be pushing the eccentricity envelope even harder than usual as of late, and its fans are here for it. In September, for example, a family actually named their baby Harland, while just last month consumers rushed to purchase KFC fire logs that smelled like fried chicken, decimating the supply within about two hours even though the logs retailed for nearly 20 bucks.
In other words, don't be surprised if you see a bunch of people walking around New York City (or posting on Twitter) with a bowl haircut after Thursday.