KFC New Fries

[Alpha8472]

KFC has eliminated potato wedges and replaced them with seasoned fries.

I liked the wedges. Now we are stuck with fries like every other fast food place.

Sister chain Taco Bell had seasoned fries for a while off and on. Maybe fries are cheaper to make.

[jamcool]

Wedge fries get colder quicker, and no one likes cold potatoes. The coated fries stay crunchier longer.
Some of us would like KFC to go back to dinner rolls, their biscuits can be used for hockey pucks

[Alpha8472]

The biscuits are stale and tasteless. I totally agree that dinner rolls would be better.

I tried the new fries and the coating was like pebbles. They had a thick shell which stayed crunchy longer. The flavor was bland and not very remarkable. If there were more spices they might make it better.

I prefer the Taco Bell Nacho Fries due to the seasoning.

I also tried the chicken sandwich and found it to be bland as well. It was over $8 for the sandwich and fries.

Maybe if they had a fry bowl with gravy it might just work better.

[storewanderer]

Earlier this year they had a lot of buy one get one free coupons running for the chicken sandwiches (price was 3.99). I tried a few but the last ones I got, the piece of chicken was so small it was basically the size of a McChicken chicken (that thin too). I didn't go back after that.

I liked the potato wedges and am disappointed to hear they took them away. The cost was quite high though, at least here, 2.49 for a very small serving of well under 1/4 pound; much better deal to buy from a grocery store deli even Safeway at 3.99/lb or whatever their outrageous price is (WinCo is like 1.98/lb). Haven't had a potato wedge since Coronavirus happened. Sad times.

[Super S]

Wedge fries get colder quicker, and no one likes cold potatoes. The coated fries stay crunchier longer.
Some of us would like KFC to go back to dinner rolls, their biscuits can be used for hockey pucks

Biscuits are an example of how inconsistent KFC can be. I have had some (not in my local area) that fit the description of hockey pucks. But most of the time they are fresh. I do agree though that dinner rolls would work better.

As for fries and potato wedges, it seems like KFC has flip flopped many times between the two over the years. It's not really a place where I think about fries in general. But these days many KFC locations operate in combo units with A&W and they have fries, and have to wonder why these locations would really need two varieties. It would make more sense to retain the wedges in those cases for more variety.

[storewanderer]

Fries usually have a pretty short hold time. These new KFC fries sound like they have a longer hold time due to the coating being described on them. I always thought KFC had wedges due to a longer hold time. They typically cooked them in rather large batches and over the years the portioning went from exceedingly generous to exceedingly stingy and just filling up the inside of the little wedge box (none sticking out/up or anything- supposedly due to "needing to only give the proper portion for the calories posted") at the Reno KFC Operator, called V&K Foods. This was the same operator who put little paper wedge boxes into the "go cups" (which were smaller than the "go cup" container) in order to not give you the proper food portion- same excuse- use the wedge boxes because that is the "calorie posted" portion. Odd I went to various other KFCs run by other franchisees all over CA and in rural NV and they always just filled the "go cup" with product, never put the wedge boxes into it to block part of the cup from being filled. I guess V&K Foods would rather just throw food out given how few customers they have. Also in the marketing photos the "go cup" was filled with product.

Grocery store delis hold wedges for literally hours (not sure the hold time is that long...).

Rarely go to KFC but don't think the biscuit is anything special the times I've had it. Tried to get them to give me biscuits in place of the bun on chicken sandwiches and that was refused. Popeyes margarine-doused biscuit ensures it is oily and salty even if in hockey puck status, though can be quite good if fresh. More dense than the KFC biscuit. I find the entire Popeyes product line to be such superior quality to KFC, it is like night and day.

Years ago we had an A&W/KFC Combo (they since dropped the A&W) and it had no wedges but you could get the A&W fries as a side item with KFC purchases. Then there was also a Long John Silvers/KFC Combo- that location had both wedges and Long John Silvers fries and you could get either as a side item with KFC purchases. That location has since dropped the Long John Silvers.

[Alpha8472]

I went back to KFC for more fries and the employee told me that they only had enough fries in the bin for a small portion. I assume that that they cook the fries and leave them in a big bin that sits there for hours. The fries were lukewarm and still crunchy.

I have noticed that many KFC/Long John Silver's locations have dropped the Long John Silver's portion. There is just not enough profit in Long John Silver's food.

[storewanderer]

Long John Silvers seems to be in a pretty rapid decline the past year or so. The last couple freestanding Long John Silvers-only ones down around San Diego have closed over the past six months and I am not sure they have any more freestanding units anywhere in SoCal. One of them had been taken over by the corporate but lost its lease to Starbucks. The other just outright closed. Some are still hanging on in NorCal. We still have one in Reno (a franchise unit) that I expect to be there for a long time as it does well and seems to be well liked.

These are no longer owned by YUM, they and A&W are owned by someone else again. So these combo units are now dealing with two different franchisors which may be an issue.

I heard Long John Silvers a few years ago started buying out franchisees (who were probably about to go out of business) and started to run corporate operated locations again; previously they were 100% franchised. This is a classic way to try and get control of the network and save locations from closing. I am not sure how this is working out for them.

[pseudo3d]

Long John Silvers seems to be in a pretty rapid decline the past year or so. The last couple freestanding Long John Silvers-only ones down around San Diego have closed over the past six months and I am not sure they have any more freestanding units anywhere in SoCal. One of them had been taken over by the corporate but lost its lease to Starbucks. The other just outright closed. Some are still hanging on in NorCal. We still have one in Reno (a franchise unit) that I expect to be there for a long time as it does well and seems to be well liked.

These are no longer owned by YUM, they and A&W are owned by someone else again. So these combo units are now dealing with two different franchisors which may be an issue.

I heard Long John Silvers a few years ago started buying out franchisees (who were probably about to go out of business) and started to run corporate operated locations again; previously they were 100% franchised. This is a classic way to try and get control of the network and save locations from closing. I am not sure how this is working out for them.

LJS hasn't been owned by Yum! Brands in almost a decade, so it makes sense that the dual-branded combo units are eliminating LJS (and frankly it's surprising they lasted that long).