Running head: KFC FRANCHISE

KFC franchise:

Name:

Institution:
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KFC franchise

KFC (Kentucky fried chicken) is a fast-food restaurant franchise headquartered in

Kentucky (Louisville) in the US. Its parent company is Yum Brands, an American restaurant

company. Apparently, KFC is the most popular and biggest fast food franchise throughout the

world. KFC specializes mostly in fried chicken, though it is also known for burgers, sandwich,

nuggets, drinks, potato wedges, mashed potatoes, French fries, roasted chicken and coleslaw.

The main ambition of KFC is maintaining and increasing the quality of its product in the fast

food industry. Each and every day, more than twelve million patrons are served daily at KFC

outlets in more 100 nations and territories all over the globe (Smith, 2007).

Colonel Harland Sander, an American entrepreneur founded KFC. He started selling

some fried chicken from the wayside restaurant during Great depression in Corbin, Kentucky. He

identified the prospect of franchising his restaurant, and the very first franchise of Kentucky fried

chicken opened in 1952 in the state Utah. Later on, KFC popularized chickens in fast food

industry, thereby diversifying the market and challenging the conventional hamburger

dominance.

The main competitors of KFC are McDonald, Pizza Hut, Burger King and Wendy’s.

Most of these competitors lead in the fast food industry in terms of profitability, sales, overall

brand recognition, as well as, numbers of stores. In addition, they are highly vertical integrated

franchises that have strong strategic planning systems, addition to, integrated operations (Smith,

2006). In a large number of nations these establishments are considered to be representative of

the American culture, thereby coming out as KFC’s major competitors in the industry.

KFC provides a wide range of support to its franchisees. To begin with, it provides the

franchisees with some financial assistance. Funding is usually available to finance the
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construction of some new multi-brand or single brand outlets, conversion to multi-brand outlets

from single brand outlets, and upgrades of the outlets as per the requirement in an applicable

franchise. In addition, the company also has a lending assistance program that franchisees can

always rely on whenever they want a business loan.

KFC also provides a complete training program that assists the franchisees when they

open and operate their businesses (Smith, 2006). They are usually taught how to manage the

inventory, perfect product preparation, how to train and hires staff, in addition to organizing the

officers to deliver the optimum results.

I believe that this franchise is a good investment. To begin with, the type of training

received in the franchise cannot be obtained when a person invest in a business that starts from

scratch. Sustaining an operation of the restaurant and meeting the investment goals comes with

no assurance. Hands-on management practices, building a higher performance team and

dedication to greater execution for customers is required. Needless to say, KFC provides all

these. Besides, opening independent restaurant may be quite a risky proposition. On most

occasions, they fail in the very first five years. In comparison, the failure rate in a franchise is

considerably low (Smith, 2006). The systems of KFC are tailored to share the best practices with

the franchisee, thereby enabling them to compete effectively and thrive for long. Apparently,

more than 50 per cent of franchisees associated with KFC have already been in operation for

more than 25 years. This is a manifestation of a system that works. As such, it is truly a good

investment.
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References/ work cited:

Smith, A. F. (2006). Encyclopedia of junk food and fast food. Westport, Conn. [u.a.: Greenwood

Press.

Smith, A. F. (2007). The Oxford companion to American food and drink. New York: Oxford

University Press.