KFC Launches Beyond Fried Chicken Nationwide After Atlanta Test Sold Out in Five Hours

KFC has today (Monday, January 10) launched its plant-based Beyond Fried Chicken in restaurants across the United States, making it the first fast food chain in the US to put plant-based chicken on the menu on a national scale.

The 3,960-unit chain worked with Beyond Meat to create what it is cheekily calling the "Kentucky Fried Miracle", a recipe developed exclusively for KFC to get close to the flavor and juiciness of its famous fried chicken. Customers can order it in six or 12-piece orders or as KFC's first ever plant-based combo meal with fries and a drink, with prices starting at $6.99. YouTube star Liza Koshy is fronting the launch campaign.

If you've been following along, this one has been a long time coming. KFC first tested Beyond Fried Chicken at a single Atlanta restaurant in August 2019, and it sold out in under five hours. The two companies then reworked the recipe and tested it again in Nashville and Charlotte, followed by a Southern California run that sold out within a week.

Kevin Hochman, president of KFC U.S., said in a statement:

The mission from day one was simple, make the world-famous Kentucky Fried Chicken from plants. And now over two years later we can say, 'mission accomplished.'

It's available for a limited time, while supplies last, which means the best way to keep it on the menu is to go and order it. One thing to know before you do: KFC says the product won't "be prepared in a vegan/vegetarian manner", so it is cooked in the same kitchens and fryers as the regular chicken. That makes it a flexitarian product rather than a strictly vegan one, but every piece sold is a piece of chicken that didn't come from a bird.

And the money is clearly following the demand. According to Bloomberg Intelligence, the global plant-based alternatives market could grow to $162 billion in the next decade, up from $29.4 billion in 2020. The health case is just as strong: the American College of Cardiology recommends getting protein from plants for a healthier heart.

This launch comes just days after the vegan McPlant went nationwide in every UK McDonald's. It follows Burger King rolling out the Impossible Whopper to every US restaurant, Beyond Meat's record-breaking IPO and KFC's own vegan burger launch in the UK.

Finger lickin' good, no chicken required.