KFC's Plant-Based Fried Chicken Sells Out in Under Five Hours at First Ever Test

KFC's first ever plant-based chicken sold out in under five hours today at a single restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia.

The chain teamed up with Beyond Meat to create Beyond Fried Chicken, and tested it at its Cobb Parkway restaurant near SunTrust Park. Lines wrapped around the restaurant before the doors opened at 10:30am. Customers could choose nuggets or boneless wings in Nashville Hot, Buffalo or Honey BBQ sauce, and Beyond Meat says the chicken is made with 100% plant-based ingredients and was cooked in a dedicated fryer.

By the afternoon it was all gone. In a statement, KFC said:

The test was so successful, guests purchased in five hours the amount of Beyond Fried Chicken KFC would normally sell on average of popcorn chicken in a week.

That's a week of sales before most people had finished lunch.

KFC is the first national quick-service chain in the US to test plant-based chicken. Kevin Hochman, president and chief concept officer of KFC US, had promised customers they'd struggle to tell the difference:

KFC Beyond Fried Chicken is so delicious, our customers will find it difficult to tell that it's plant-based. I think we've all heard 'it tastes like chicken' - well our customers are going to be amazed and say, 'it tastes like Kentucky Fried Chicken!'

There are no plans to restock the Atlanta store for now. KFC told Restaurant Dive it is looking at the results and customer feedback, and a bigger test or a national rollout could follow. Given the queues around the building, we'd say the Colonel should start ordering more.

Less chicken on the menu is good news for everyone. Oxford University research in PNAS found that a global move to plant-based diets would save more than 8 million lives by 2050, and the largest study of its kind linked meat consumption to nine major diseases.

Just a few weeks ago Burger King took the Impossible Whopper to every US restaurant, and in May Beyond Meat had the best IPO debut of 2019. In the UK Greggs' vegan sausage roll sold out across the country. It's a long way from 2016, when London got its first completely vegan fried chicken shop.

Finger lickin' plants. The future is looking brighter.