KFC hot off the grill

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - What in the name of Col. Harland Sanders is going on at KFC? The chain built by his secret recipe for fried chicken is about to give equal billing to, gulp, grilled chicken.

Customers will be greeted eventually by lighted "Now Grilling" signs, starting in coming weeks in select U.S. cities, including Colorado Springs. Storefront signs will be altered to promote the new product - called Kentucky Grilled Chicken.

Even the brand's ubiquitous chicken buckets will get a makeover.

"This is transformational for our brand," said Doug Hasselo, KFC's chief food innovation officer.

Louisville-based KFC, a subsidiary of Yum Brands Inc., hopes grilled chicken will lure back health-conscious consumers who dropped fried chicken from their diets, or cut back on indulging.

KFC announced last year that fried chicken at all its U.S. restaurants had zero grams of trans fat per serving after the chain switched cooking oils.

KFC says the grilled chicken has significantly fewer calories and fat, plus much less sodium, than its Original Recipe fried chicken that launched the brand more than a half-century ago.

The grilled product, served on the bone, is being tested in the Springs and five other cities - Indianapolis, San Diego, Oklahoma City, Jacksonville, Fla., and Austin. A national rollout is planned early next year.

The company, which serves about 12 million customers daily at more than 14,000 outlets around the world, says prices for grilled and fried chicken will be comparable.

Even while planning a big marketing push for grilled chicken, KFC executives insist the chain is not backing away from its most famous product.

New fried chicken items are planned this summer.

By expanding into grilled chicken, the chain hopes to build on its core dinner business and strengthen lunch and snack segments, said KFC President Gregg Dedrick.

In promoting the grilled product, KFC plans to change storefront signs to add grilled to the name.

Chicken buckets will still feature KFC founder Harland Sanders but will get a redesign to promote fried and grilled chicken.

Brian Shinn, in charge of operations at 13 Colorado Springs KFC stores that are part of the grilled chicken test, said some KFC franchisees have been frustrated with the chain for not rolling out nonfried items sooner.

"When we saw everything going healthy, we needed to jump on sooner," Shinn said. "We have to play catchup now."

KFC has been testing Kentucky Grilled Chicken for about 2½ years.

In Colorado Springs, grilled chicken sales had a robust start then, backed by television advertising, Shinn said.

But since TV spots promoting grilled chicken ended about a 1½ years ago, sales for the product "have not been where we wanted to be," he said.

Now, KFC plans a series of TV ads promoting grilled chicken in test markets, including a spot featuring Dedrick and workers adding grilled to a storefront name.

Shinn said the company seems committed to grilled chicken and said he's optimistic that KFC has come up with a lasting nonfried chicken winner.

"We need to have it," he said. "We need to make it work."