KFC is paring down its menu, and several fan favorites are on the chopping block.
Popcorn chicken, Kentucky Fried chicken wings, Nashville hot sauce, strawberry lemonade, and chocolate chip cookies have been scratched from the KFC menu for good. Talk about spring cleaning.
The chain attributes the "menu simplification" to alleviating customers' decision fatigue — the indecision that happens when there are too many choices — but that seems like putting a good spin on an unpopular decision. Presumably, these products were either too expensive or too labor intensive to prepare, given inflation and labor shortages, or they were simply not popular enough to justify keeping.
All is not lost, however. KFC is taking a cue from its sister brand Taco Bell by focusing more on new and rotating items, something that the menu culling makes room for. "Though we are removing a few items, it will allow us to make room for some new, exciting additions to the menu in 2023," Brand Marketing Director Brittany Wilson told Today.com.
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In fact, the chain just added new KFC wraps to the menu for a limited time. The two wraps are made with crispy chicken tenders in a flour tortilla and might remind McDonald's fans of its gone-but-not-forgotten Snack Wraps.
Even with more options in the pipeline, the loss of popcorn chicken is a bummer, especially for KFC Bowl fans. But the bowls haven't been axed, so what's taking the place of popcorn chicken on the infamous mashed potato bowls? According to some KFC fans on Reddit, it's being replaced by cut-up chicken tenders, a substitution that just doesn't have the same je ne sais quoi.