KFC turned to moms for an online survey on consumer preference for family meals conducted with the help of Wakefield Research. Of the 1,000 respondents, all of whom had children under the age of 17 living in the household, 34 percent pegged the chicken chain as their go-to quick-serve brand for family dining.
“Colonel Sanders built this brand by focusing on providing meal solutions for families,” says Rick Maynard, KFC’s senior manager of public relations, in an email. “He always described Kentucky Fried Chicken’s menu position as ‘Family Dinner, Seven Days a Week.’ Moms are as important to KFC today as they were to the Colonel all those decades ago.”
The survey results show 89 percent of moms are skeptical about the quality of quick-serve chicken, but 70 percent say they would be very likely to serve it to their families if they knew it was 100 percent breast meat. And 62 percent of respondents say they would be very likely to serve chicken strips from a quick serve if they knew the strips were prepared fresh and hand breaded.
“That was validating for us, since the Extra Crispy Tenders in our Dip’ems Bucket are all-breast meat, freshly prepared and hand-breaded,” Maynard says of the KFC menu item that inspired the survey.
The Dip’ems Bucket, which made its first appearance in 2012, is a platform that also aims to address the needs of what Maynard calls a today’s “time-starved” families with convenient and innovative design. The bucket features KFC’s Extra Crispy Tenders and comes with a lid that holds six different sauces: Honey BBQ, Creamy Ranch, Creamy Buffalo, Honey Mustard, and LTOs Orange Ginger and Bacon Ranch.
“Every KFC product offering is rooted in a consumer insight. In the case of Dip’ems, we think the world would be a better place if we had more fun at mealtimes,” Maynard says.
He adds the survey also showed how moms still think connecting over a family meal is essential—95 percent of respondents found it either very important or somewhat important.
“We’re showing families in real situations and reinforcing the role KFC plays in those meal-time moments,” Maynard says. Part of the brand’s #HowDoYouKFC marketing initiative has included ad spots surrounding the family meal. The commercials, available on YouTube, are shot in a candid manner and also in both English and Spanish.
By Tamara Omazic
