KFC Drags U.K. Supermarket Over Fried Chicken Platter

KFC has gone in on a U.K. supermarket for frying some chicken

Not long after dropping an ASMR-inspired advertising campaign in the U.K. and a frankly creepy CGI avatar in the U.S., KFC has joined the noble tradition of brands dragging other brands on social media. Swerving the trend for existential dread that dominated American food brands in 2018, it targeted U.K. supermarket Morrison’s with a sick burn over a new fried chicken platter called ‘Chic-king.’ The platter offers 14 pieces of boneless chicken as well as four portions of chips, beans, coleslaw, onion rings and four soft drinks at £10, £5.99 cheaper than the fried chicken stalwarts. Despite its limited availability at the supermarket’s cafes, the Colonel took no prisoners — the fact that its ire (in)advertently targeted the Sun is a neat little bonus, even if huge corporations being brutal online doesn’t excuse their many faults. In KFC’s case, these memorably include failing to supply chicken for weeks at a time.

And in other news...

• Kebab Queen’s £60 kebab tasting menu that doesn’t “wish to ‘elevate the food,’” but does “present ‘Middle Eastern flavours’ and ‘meticulous and classic technique[s]’ as mutually exclusive,” has earned the dubious honour of featuring on ‘Pass Notes.’ That’s the column “designed to tell you everything you need to know about a story you don’t need to know about.” [Guardian]
• Aldo Zilli is doing his absolute best to return to the spotlight. The chef has now claimed that Italian restaurants should only hire Italian chefs, responding to the ongoing conversation around cultural appropriation in food with comments that don’t really address cultural appropriation. He also says “spaghetti bolognese doesn’t exist,” and that carbonara never has cream; he’s published recipes saying the opposite. [Daily News USA]
• An enterprising Dominos employee built a Game of Thrones tribute out of the chain’s pizza boxes. [Eater]
• Ecuador’s revocation of Julian Assange’s asylum in the U.K. could have had something to do with a lobster platter. A photo of the country’s president, Lenín Moreno, enjoying a feast that would make a paid influencer blush leaked the week Assange was arrested from the country’s London embassy. It could also have been, well, the smears. [New York Post]
• Carlsberg keeps promoting tweets that are decidedly unkind about the beer the brand once dubbed as “probably the best lager in the world.” It’s even taken out ads in the Evening Standard. [Munchies]
• After another ignorant tweet about food poverty, an interrogation of the (completely clueless) “let them eat porridge” mentality. [New Statesman]
• A ‘wine cafe’ will open in Hammersmith. Chez Maiss will bring wine tastings, cheese platters, and other familiar trappings to the Broadway Shopping Centre.
• Middling burger brands are playing swap shop, as Five Guys moves in on GBK’s territory in Notting Hill. [Propel Hospitality]
• Better than middling burger brand Patty and Bun’s latest move is to make its burgers thinner — a new smash burger, popular in U.S. diners, drive-ins, and dives, will debut at its Pergola Paddington location, Smash Patty. [Hot Dinners]