KFC celebrates 50 years down under
IT DOESN’T sound very exciting, but half a century ago a “Thrift Box” was a menu option at KFC.
The pack, containing nine pieces of the Colonel’s Secret Recipe chicken, sold for a very reasonable $1.59. A bucket of nine pieces of chicken today would set you back almost $25.
If that wasn’t thrifty enough for you, how about a lunch pack of a single piece of chicken and chips for a mere 49c?
The global chicken chain has released one of its first Australian menus to commemorate the 50th anniversary since opening its first store in the country.
In 1968 the familiar profile of Colonel Sanders first rose above an Australian store in Guildford, western Sydney. It was just 10kms from Yagoona, where McDonald’s would open its first store in the country three years later.
Also on the 1960s menu were some things you can’t get today. How about a “half dozen hot buns” and a fruit salad?
From one Kentucky Fried Chicken store in western Sydney, the chain, now known as KFC, has 640 stores around Australia, serves two million customers a week and deep fries 50 million kilograms worth of drumsticks, nuggets and burgers annually.
After passing through multiple owners over the years, including Pepsi, the chain is now part of Yum Brands which also looks after Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.
The menu is so old it helpfully explains who Colonel Harland Sanders is for the unaware.
The moustachioed founder of KFC visited Australia in 1970 to spruik his new stores. Mr Sanders made appearances at KFC outlets up to just a few weeks before his death in 1980. He is now buried in his trademark white suit in Louisville, Kentucky’s largest city.
The chain’s famous slogan “finger licken’ good” is also on the pamphlet.
A dinner box of three pieces of chicken, whipped potato and gravy, coleslaw and a roll would set you back $1.30.
Today, a box containing three drumsticks, chips, mash and gravy, a roll and soft drink is more than $11. A big jump indeed, but according the Reserve Bank’s inflation calculator that box should cost almost $16 now adjusting for inflation, so in real terms it’s actually become cheaper.
A bucket of 21 pieces of chicken cost $5.20 in the 1960s, today that’s jumped to $34.95.
Some items are familiar. You can still pick up tangy coleslaw (once just 55c), cold drinks (16c) and hot chips (20c for a small serve).
On Friday, the fast food chain will be marking its 50 years in Australia by giving away free chicken in retro buckets at Sydney’s Overseas Passenger Terminal.
They’ll be hoping to not run out of chicken, the fate that befell their stores in the UK and Ireland earlier this year.
The embarrassing fail afflicted 900 stores for weeks when KFC switched from its usual logistics supplier to another venue.
It wasn’t just chicken; gravy was also in short supply.
It took almost a month to get things back to normal which only occurred once the contract was partially switched back to the old supplier whose secret recipe for getting drumsticks to store was put in motion.
The firm later took out ads in the UK press apologising for the furore. Cheekily, they rearranged the KFC logo to read “FCK”.
