KFC is pairing its modern, grown-up Bites with a classic grown-up sauce to create the Original Recipe Bites with Dipping Gravy.
“When we introduced Original Recipe Bites last year, KFC set the standard for what bite-sized chicken should be,” says Jason Marker, chief marketing officer for KFC U.S. “Pairing Original Recipe Bites with Dipping Gravy is not only an homage to Colonel Sanders and the high standards he put on gravy taste; it’s also a direct response to the thousands of ‘fanatics’ that rave about our gravy every day.”
Since the item’s introduction last July, KFC has sold more than 300 million Original Recipe Bites. This positive response came with only one request: Fans asked for another dipping sauce for KFC’s Original Recipe Bites.
It didn’t take long for KFC to decide that its world-famous gravy was the perfect pairing.
The chefs in the KFC test kitchen expect gravy to be a popular dipping sauce for Bites, since it is served hot and features the signature flavor fans rave about.
In addition, sauce lovers have other dipping options at KFC, including Creamy Buffalo (which debuted in 2012), Honey BBQ, Ranch, and Honey Mustard.
Original Recipe Bites with Dipping Gravy are available in a six-piece combo for $3.99. Also available is the KFC Eight-Piece Meal, which includes eight pieces of chicken, two large sides, and four biscuits for just $15.99.
The very first gravy “fanatic” at KFC was the Colonel himself. In the early days of his franchise, Colonel Sanders was known to always carry a silver spoon in his jacket pocket to exclusively taste test gravy at hundreds of restaurants across the country.
The spirit of his gravy fandom lives on today; it is embodied by the more than 300,000 fans of KFC gravy on a (non-KFC sponsored) Facebook community page and by the dozens of tweets about KFC gravy posted every day to Twitter.
These fans are both loyal and creative about their love for gravy. They suggest new ways for KFC to serve gravy and often express disbelief in anyone who does not share in their fanaticism.
This KFC Gravy loyalty was the inspiration behind the Original Recipe Bites with Dipping Gravy marriage.
KFC is helping continue the social movement by engaging gravy lovers with a number of activations, including a call to action to get consumers to join “the gravy train,” and a dedicated hashtag—#withgravy—that will allow consumers to share their love of gravy and celebrate this pairing.
