Established in the year 1930, with over 21,000 restaurants globally in 130+ countries, KFC’s journey over all these years has been nothing but magical. It is the leading brand in the portfolio of Yum Brands which is growing its global presence through KFC, taco bells and Pizza Hut at a sharper rate.
The success of KFC can be attributed to the factor that it has been the 2nd biggest contributor as a brand after Taco bells in the revenue growth of YUM Brands. Here, is the SWOT analysis of KFC listing its strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats.
SWOT Analysis of KFC
Strengths describe the factors that which the organization is good at and what separates it from its competitors.
–Strong global presence: With a presence in over 130+ countries and with 21,000+ stores, KFC has an impressive global presence.KFC is the world’s 2nd largest restaurant chain and market leader in a majority of the countries in the Non-veg food segment.
–Loyal Customer Base: KFC has its own loyal follower base and all thanks to its secret chicken recipe. It’s the taste and the crunchiness of KFC’s chicken that is loved by the consumers.
–Variety in Menu: One of the major strengths of KFC is the variety of food that KFC offers to its customers. KFC tweak’s its menu and food offerings, basis the region in which it operates. For example – KFC offers veg food in India just to cater to vegetarian customers along with chicken lovers.
—KFC’s Secret recipe: Sanders’ Original Recipe of “11 herbs and spices” is one of the most famous trade secrets in the catering industry. A copy of the recipe, signed by Sanders, is held inside a safe inside a vault in KFC’s Louisville headquarters, along with eleven vials containing the herbs and spices.
Weaknesses stop an organization from performing at its optimum level. They are areas where the business needs to improve to remain competitive:
–Supply chain and Distribution issues: Early this year, KFC has faced a major distribution issue with the delivery of the chicken. This issue became so big that it led to the closing of some of its stores in the UK. Read the full story here
It took a KFC a lot of logistical and marketing effort to come out of this coup.
In order to avoid facing the same issue in the future, KFC needs to take extra care of its supply chain and distribution of its raw materials like Chicken, spices etc.
–Managing Franchisees: Franchisee management is one of the critical issues in the success of the fast food chains and due to conflicting operational issues between KFC and its franchisees many of its outlets got closed since its inception.
Learn more about the KFC Marketing strategy
Threats refer to factors that have the potential to harm an organization in the future. Given the fact, threats give a brand a far-sighted view about the problems that the brand is likely to face in the future, it is one of the most important factors in the SWOT Analysis of KFC.
— Changing consumer food trends and preferences: Due to the emergence of Millennials, the food trends and preferences are changing. Consumers are preferring foods that are healthy in nature ( low in fats and calories).
This changing food preferences of the consumers are putting additional pressure on the fast food giants like KFC.
— Food quality challenges: Food quality is an important challenge before KFC. KFC has faced criticism in the past as well for the quality of oils it uses for cooking its food. Also, the laws related to food quality has become quite stringent in different countries and is becoming a major challenge for fast food chains.
— Competition from global and local players: Despite having grown very fast during the past few years, it is still not at number one. KFC faces stiff competition from not just global players but also local players as well. Competitors are introducing new food items to their menu to grow their market share and customer base and KFC too needs to be on its toes to beat the competition.
Check out the marketing mix of KFC
Opportunities refer to the factors which the organization can use to its favor to grow its market share, sales, brand recognition etc. It’s the second most important factor in SWOT Analysis of KFC as it will shape the future of the company’s strategy.
–Expanding to new Geographies: Emerging economies, changing lifestyle of consumers and their increasing buying propensity is allowing fast food giants to explore new geographies to increase their market share and revenue.
–Exploring new food items in Menu: Catering to the changing food demands and needs of the millennials, KFC has a big opportunity to introduce healthy foods in their menu that are low in fats and calories.
Conclusion
There are a number of challenges that KFC faces but still it’s the strong brand equity, current market position, and the opportunities that pose a strong growth in the future for the brand.
This concludes the SWOT analysis of KFC.
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