10 Things we’d like to see on the KFC UK Menu in 2016 – KFC Wish List
It’s been a good year for KFC in the UK.
March/April saw the three-part BBC documentary – The Billion Dollar Chicken Shop, which offered viewers a behind the scenes look into the heart of the company and more importantly, giving it prime time exposure.
This was followed-up in May/June with the release of its loyalty reward program called the Colonel’s Club.
Register, collect and redeem using the KFC app and the customer receives a stamp for every £3 spend. 3 stamps gets you a free side, 7 a free snack and 11 £5 off your meal.
Now the boss of KFC UK, Martin Shuker has revealed to The Telegraph that he wants the chicken chain to hit £1.5bn in sales by 2020.
They are aiming to achieve this by expanding the number of their stores from 880 to 1,000; growing its core business; and expanding the range of food on offer. Well Martin… read on.
Despite all this, we’ve seen very little in terms of new burgers at KFC.
In fact, we’ve only had one KFC review this year and that was for the recent BBQ Bacon Boss Burger. Nothing has really seemed new or innovative enough for us to warrant a visit (and I’m talking burgers here, not Burritos, Wraps or Riceboxes).
It got us thinking at BLHQ.
What 10 items would we like to see on the menu at KFC (in the UK) in 2016?
We’ve tried to approach this from a burger point of view for the majority of the list with one or two exceptions. So take a look and let us know what you would like to see.
1. Double Down
Does it need any introduction? The burger that replaces bread buns with two original recipe fried chicken fillets containing bacon, two different kinds of melted cheese and the Colonel’s secret sauce.
You might believe the calories of this thing are through the roof, but weighing in at approx. 540 kcal it’s in the nutritional range of the Big Mac.
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| KFC Double Down… |
Available at some time in countries such as the USA, Australia, Singapore, South Africa and with variations such as the Zinger Maxx (Korea), Scorcher Double Down (Canada), Hawaiian and Ham/Steak/Hash (New Zealand) the nearest to the UK we’ve seen it on-sale has been in France and The Netherlands.
So popular, we created our “secret menu” Double Down. Manchester-based Solita did their own version and even Chicken Cottage released a copycat Double Fillet Sandwich (alongside some blatant PhotoShop editing of the KFC promo pic).
Chicken Cottage copies KFC Double Down… photo credit: @BryanRoberts72 http://t.co/0sJbM7h8vR pic.twitter.com/vO4fmDL9Q1— Burger Lad® (@Burger_Lad) April 8, 2015
We ran a recent Twitter poll and 87% of voters said “Yes Definitely” to wanting to see the Double Down released in the UK. So come on Colonel Sanders, Mr. Shuker and all the team at KFC. Make it happen! The people want it in the UK!
2. Chizza
The Philippines and Korea are just two countries that have seen the pizza/fried chicken hybrid known as Chizza.
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| KFC Chizza… |
For the uninitiated of you, Chizza replaces the traditional dough base used for pizzas since the beginning of time, for a flat-ish round strip(?) of chicken. This is then topped with marinara sauce, cheese, pineapple, pepperoni and green peppers.
The UK loves pizza. It loves KFC. So let’s not let our friends in the Far East have all the fun and let’s get Chizza on the menu in the UK. Tomorrow! And with marketing like the video below who wouldn’t want to see it in this country…!?
Considering KFC looks to appeal to people with healthy eating options such as riceboxes and wraps I don’t see this creation appearing anytime soon unfortunately.
3. Big Boss Sandwich
We talked a bit about the Big Boss Sandwich in our BBQ Bacon Boss Burger review. Despite being fairly enjoyable, we lamented the UK Boss for being a bit boring. Basically swapping the ketchup and fresh tomato from the Daddy for BBQ sauce and calling it the many B’s burger.
In Canada they’ve been extremely lucky and got a burger/sandwich known as the Big Boss.
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| KFC Big Boss Sandwich… |
Without beating around the proverbial too much it is in essence KFC’s version of the iconic Big Mac. Two pieces of hand-breaded chicken, a middle, club-layer bun, lettuce, cheese, pickles and special sauce – yes this is 100% a KFC style Big Mac. And we want it! We want it a lot!!
At 600 kcal this again doesn’t seem too obscene in terms of calorie counts. We know KFC saw our comments in our review about the Big Boss – hopefully in 2016 they’ll take it on-board and bring this burger to their restaurants.
4. Double Down Dog
The Far East gets all the good stuff, or bad depending on your point of view. If you think the Double Down is 50/50 on getting a UK release and Chizza is even less likely, then prepare yourself for one we definitely will not see. The Double Down Dog…
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| KFC Double Down Dog… |
Offered in The Philippines (there’s a pattern emerging here) as a super exclusive limited time offer – literally only available to 50 customers at selected stores over a two-day period, the Double Down Dog replaces hot dog buns with fried chicken, contains a hot dog sausage and is topped with cheese and a honey mustard dressing.
It caused a bit of a stir in the press when it was available in January 2015 and is likely to appear in those stupid “Top 10” lists (bizarre foods we’re betting) which are only too common on the internet in these times of lazy journalism…
Honourable mention: Zinger Double Down King (Korea).
5. Zinger Shrimpo Sandwich
Kentucky Fried Chicken. Its core product to no surprise is chicken. Guess what. It also sells fried fish sometimes. More often in the Middle and Far East and currently on the menu at KFC Arabia is the Zinger Shrimpo Sandwich.
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| KFC Zinger Shrimpo Sandwich… |
On a sub-style roll with fresh lettuce and KFC’s special dressing are five pieces of fried shrimp. This isn’t something completely new to KFC and the “Taste of Adventure” has been seen on menus as far back as 2011.
I’m not going to say something as outlandish as “with the UK’s aversion to fish and seafood don’t expect to see this in the UK anytime soon”. But don’t. But it would be nice… if just for a very limited time or test.
6. Zinger Stacker
This is quite possibly more likely than the Big Boss to make its way to KFC restaurants in the UK. Available in Australia, the Zinger Stacker is described as “a hunger busting spice sensation with two juicy Zinger Fillets, two slices of melted cheese, lettuce, spicy supercharged sauce and chilli relish”.
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| KFC Zinger Stacker… |
Our very own Admiral Burgerbar liked the sound of it so much he even managed to get one KFC restaurant to make it for him which you can read about here.
More a case of excellent customer service than confirmation of a secret menu item – this was blatantly copied (without credit) by some of the tabloid press when they went in search of a secret menu (as was our Ultimate Zinger).
With all the ingredients from the Zinger Stacker residing in the pantry at KFC UK this must be the most likely of all our wish list to make it to retail.
7. Pizza Twister
The Pizza Twister has been available in the past at KFC Pakistan – featuring Zinger flavoured chicken strips, special pizza sauce, pepperoni slices, Mozzarella cheese and crunchy green peppers, all wrapped in a warm, toasted tortilla. This seems to be KFC’s first foray into combining chicken and pizza before the Chizza came along.
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| KFC Pizza Twister… |
Also appearing on menus in The Philippines (again!) they’ve had a few variations such as Cheesy Bacon, Hawaiian (as above but with pineapple) and an interesting sounding California Maki which back in 2010 had mango, cucumber and creamy Japanese mayo.
Whether it’s in the form of a Twister or Chizza I can really see the chicken/pizza combo working well in the UK but maybe that trend is too 2010?
8. Doritos Crunch Burger
It’s not massively uncommon to see potato chips (or crisps) on overseas High Street burgers but the trend doesn’t seem to have happened much in the UK apart from McDonald’s Arizona Nacho Grande and/or the Mexican Fiesta.
On-sale in South Africa, the Doritos Crunch Burger has a crispy mini chicken fillet topped with cheese, lettuce, spicy cheese sauce and sweet chilli Doritos. Sounds good!
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| KFC Doritos Crunch Burger… |
Then more recently, they decided to up the ante with the Jacked Up Double Crunch Burger – two chicken fillets, Jacked Doritos, cheese, lettuce, tomato and a spicy sauce/dressing.
KFC South Africa brings back burger topped with Smokey Hot BBQ Jacked Doritos… pic.twitter.com/IKM9idSKfR— Burger Lad® (@Burger_Lad) December 4, 2015
By offering different varieties of Doritos the product variation is quite wide so it would be interesting to see this concept in the UK.
Honourable mentions: Hot & Cheezy Burger (Malaysia), Nacho Box (Australia).
9. Popcorn Chicken Roulette
Not actually available in any country (the Australian Nacho Box is pictured below) this would see a mixture of different strength Popcorn Chicken being available in a portion.
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| KFC Nacho Box… |
Similar to the Doritos Roulette and Nando’s Wing Roulette concepts, KFC could offer Popcorn Chicken in a number of flavours with additional sauces.
Some of the flavours/heat levels in my mind include Sriracha (could be the first High Street chain to bring it to the UK), Buffalo (see Frank’s), Habanero, Jalapeno and Ghost Chilli are just some of the ideas we have.
Probably best to have a massive “WARNING” label over them in-case of children eating them – OK maybe I’m not cut out for R&D just yet…
Honourable mention: Popcorn Chicken Poutine (Canada).
10. KFC Breakfast
Available in Romania is the KFC A.M. range – offering a sort-of McMuffin style breakfast sandwich featuring chicken and cheese and called Chicken Toast.
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| KFC a.m. Romania… |
Alongside this is Egg Toast (switching the chicken for egg instead). Why not combine both and answer the age old riddle – which really did come first? The chicken or the egg?
If KFC want to expand and they don’t currently offer anything to rival that of McDonald’s or Burger King’s breakfast menus perhaps our final item on the wish list could appear sooner than you think. Especially if KFC wants to establish itself as a destination for coffee lovers in search of a quick breakfast fix.
We hope you have enjoyed our KFC wish list for 2016 and beyond.
What do you think? Would you like to see any of these items added to KFC menus even if just for a limited time? Have we missed anything?
Let us know via the usual channels.
Burger Lad®