KFC to let customers behind the scenes to cook their own chicken

Fast food chain KFC is inviting fans to come behind the counters and head into the kitchen to see how its famous fried chicken is made – and even have a go themselves.

On May 6, the group will open its kitchens and food stations to 600 fried chicken fans at 100 restaurants across the UK, including eight within London.

The stunt will be the first time ever KFC have ever let the public behind the scenes.

Groups of six will be shown into the heart of the kitchens, where they’ll wash and bread fresh chicken before it heads into a pressure fryer. Then they’ll get to build a custom burger, using all of the restaurant's ingredients, before eating their creations. KFC is also throwing in branded freebies.

The restaurants are expected to be open during the tour, meaning fans will be exposed to a real kitchen in full swing – giving them an idea exactly of how their meals are made. Anyone interested should sign up at kfc.seetickets.com.

The Standard was given a sneak preview of what the day will entail at London’s Tottenham Court Road branch.

Rob Swain, Chief Operating Officer for KFC, said he was all too aware of the rumours surrounding the group’s food – but dismissed it as nonsense, explaining that the open day is a chance for any doubter to see for themselves exactly how the restaurants operate.

“A little while ago, a lady on a train told me she’d heard we use four-headed chickens in our food, which is just silly”, Swain said, “But then I've heard so many things. None of it is true."

“When I went to the supplier, I was surprised they were exactly the same farms as I’d worked with in my previous job, at Sainsbury’s,” said Chris Fells, the Product Excellence Director for the group, “On the first day, the supplier said ‘Look, I know we told you you were our biggest buyer, but the truth it it’s KFC. Our chicken is the same stuff you’d buy in a supermarket.'”

KFC source all their fresh chicken from the UK, and all of Red Tractor assured. It should be noted that the Red Tractor standard is not without its own controversies.

KFC was founded 87 years ago in Louisville, Kentucky, by Colonel Harland Sanders, who invented the famous secret spice mix which is still used today. The mix is so highly prized that it's said only two people alive know the exact recipe, which is made in two halves by two different factories, before tasters blend it to match the famous flavour which has now made it into more than 20,000 restaurants worldwide.

Sanders, an eccentric character who left home to start working at 13, went broke twice trying to ensure KFC was a success and often slept in his car as he built franchises. He was known for his sometimes abrasive opinions and would often walk into restaurants, roll up the sleeves of his white suit and head straight for the kitchen to demonstrate to staff exactly how the chicken was made.

David's Experience

"So, KFC fan? When were you last in?" asks the company’s COO, Rob Swain. He looks like a nice man. I feel bad.

The truth is, I explain, I think it was probably about three years ago, very drunk, and before that, not since childhood. He nods.

KFC isn’t my usual fare; I’m lucky at the Standard to write up and review everywhere in London, from the brand new openings everyone’s chattering about to Michelin-starred giants where a meal costs more than my mortgage, but fast food doesn’t really figure. I’m not so much pleasantly surprised, then, as shocked the food KFC serve. The chicken is moist, fresh, nicely seasoned… I like it. I don't really want to, but I do. It helps that I’ve just seen how they do it: this isn’t bits of chicken meat squished into a ball, it’s actual thighs and breasts, proper food. Not too salty, either: I’m told they vary how much goes in country to country. Certainly, it isn't gourmet cuisine, and it's not the best fried chicken I've had (thanks, James Cochran), but nor is it the trashy, tasteless muck I'd expected.

The kitchen looks spotless, and the branch’s manager, Junio Campos, is a charming man, clearly the type to follow instructions to the letter. He insists they change the flour after ten trays of meat are breaded, is militant about hand washing and the branch's nightly two hour scrub. Whether everywhere is run with such precision, I couldn't say, but I trust this one.

Jack Hinchcliffe, the group’s innovation director, tells me KFC do their bit to keep up with chicken joints around London. He knows fried chicken, with the pengest munch and the like, is more popular than ever, and heads up a team that works to keep KFC up to speed with the independents, without changing the original recipe. To that end, it’s interesting to see buttermilk mayo and revamped sauces. Now, if they could just sort out the soggy chips, yellow lettuce and the plastic cheese, KFC would have the whole thing cracked.