Objectives

Colonel Sanders founded KFC in 1952 to make delicious food available to everyone and support the communities in which KFC operates. As the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the U.S., people fell sick, schools closed, essential workers feared going to work, businesses were forced to close, and families were going hungry. KFC quickly jumped into action, creating initiatives to remind consumers of the long-standing values established nearly 70 years ago.

KFC’s overall objectives amid the pandemic were:

• Offer customers a safe and convenient carryout, delivery and drive-thru experience at 4,000+ restaurants across the U.S.
• Create a goodwill strategy rooted in supporting local communities however those communities needed it most.

Upon the pandemic hitting the U.S., KFC’s first order of business was to remind the public that KFC was still open for business and ready to serve its longtime customers while offering the safest experience possible. Once KFC was confident that they had exhausted all measures to keep restaurants, employees and customers safe, focus shifted to giving back to those in need. Hunger relief is core to KFC’s DNA, as evidenced by existing philanthropic partnerships:

• Harvest, KFC's prepared food donation program, donates surplus food from its U.S. restaurants, totaling 82 million+ pounds of food since 1999.
• KFC’s corporate partnership with Blessings in a Backpack, a 501(c)(3) organization, provides food on the weekends for elementary school children who might otherwise go hungry.
• The KFC Foundation has provided $20 million to more than 6,400 students and KFC restaurant employees since 2006.

Strategy and Execution

As the pandemic gripped the U.S., KFC’s commitment to the community was thrust into the spotlight. Because of this, the company wanted to continue to contribute in bigger, more meaningful ways. To do so, the KFC team came up with a multi-pronged strategy that brought Feeding Our Communities to life:

• Challenge: Mandatory school closures significantly impacted children.
  • Solution: $400,000 donation to Blessings in a Backpack, feeding 100,000 children. 
• Challenge: KFC wanted to celebrate locally-owned restaurants’ support of frontline workers and vulnerable populations that would resonate nationally.
  • Solution: KFC shipped its 4,000+ U.S. restaurants an additional case of chicken at no cost to the franchisee, with the stipulation that the chicken must be cooked and donated to those in need within one month – totaling more than one million pieces of chicken for good.
• Challenge: Upon learning via a restaurant-level survey that KFC employees felt a pantry pinch with kids home, KFC explored how to assist team members.
  • Solution: KFC, in partnership with the KFC Foundation, created the Grocery Assistance Fund, providing $100 grocery gift cards to employees across its 4,000+ U.S. restaurants.
• Challenge: Business closures and dine-in restrictions caused a surplus of leftover food.
  • Solution: Addressing food banks’ ongoing food shortages, KFC donated 621,000 pounds of food (more than 600,000 meals) through Harvest, totaling 1.2 million pounds of food donated to hunger relief in 2020; meanwhile, KFC franchisees continued regularly donating on a community level.

To ensure a successful strategy, KFC completely re-thought how its current charitable programs could elevate Feeding Our Communities. Although philanthropic partnerships were already in place, KFC took a new approach to working with them. For example, KFC was able to gain assistance from parent company Yum! Brands to fund the initiative, a first-of-its-kind partnership.

Feeding Our Communities was an earned media-focused program, instilling trust and confidence in consumers and amplifying the work that franchisees were already doing in their communities. It also enabled KFC to highlight that most restaurants are locally owned and operated and remained open during the pandemic to serve their communities, which shines a light on the people who help make KFC such a resilient family. The franchisees and restaurant teams were able to choose where their donations would go, depending on what would resonate most in their local communities.

KFC creatively utilized corporate assets, its network of franchisees, the KFC Foundation, and existing partnerships to create “Feeding Our Communities.” KFC was uniquely positioned to give back to communities and was able to get franchisee leaders to participate.

Among the creative ways that KFC ensured its actions would make a difference in the community:

• Survey KFC U.S. restaurant employees to learn how to assist team members in response to COVID-19 better.
• Create a Facebook page, “KFC <3 Strong”, to drive team member morale and create a platform to share national goodwill efforts.
• Enable franchisees to give back to their communities and remove the cost-burden associated with supplying additional chicken to every restaurant to donate.

Results

In one of the company’s biggest donations, KFC fed more than one million people impacted by COVID-19, created goodwill around the KFC brand and worked in tandem with KFC Corporate and franchisee partners for the greater good. From a media standpoint, KFC saw an increase in coverage, resulting in a higher SOV and helped sustain strong sales numbers, despite restaurants only providing carry-out, delivery and drive-thru. According to industry data, KFC also outperformed other QSRs during this time.

Looking forward, decision-making for KFC will consider health and the economic climate. From KFC’s virtual Mother’s Day campaign in partnership with Messenger from Facebook, to the launch of a new menu item or brand activation, KFC will continue to tie creative ideas back to its roots of protecting and celebrating employees, making delicious, safe food available to everyone and supporting the communities in which the brand operates.

Positive coverage for KFC's announcements has run in top-tier publications such as The Tonight Show, People.com, CNN Business, Ad Age, Delish, Fox News Online, Forbes and Eater, among others.

Media