KFC’s outlet in Binnenwegplein in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, will be “completely chicken-free” from 9th-15th March.
The move is part of the country’s third “National week without meat”. KFC did a test with the “Chickenless Chicken Burger” at the end of last year. During the week-long pilot one in 10 orders at KFC Akerpoort in Amsterdam were chickenless.
“We knew that people wanted a vegetarian option with the taste of KFC, but we did not expect that sales would go so fast,” said Trix van Vleuten KFC Northern Europe’s chief marketing officer.
The fast food chain launched the chickenless vegan burger in the UK in January. This followed a successful trial in June 2019.
Philip Mansbridge, executive director at ProVeg, a campaign group, told Footprint the move was “mindblowing”. KFC selling food that didn’t contain chicken was “as shocking as it could get for us”, he said.
The growth in vegan foods was one of the defining food trends of 2019 and brands are already battling to grab a slice of the action in 2020.
Last week, the Eating Better Alliance called for a dramatic reduction in consumption of chicken. “Chicken has been touted as a healthy and sustainable meat, but it has serious trade-offs that are multiplied many times due to the vast amount of chicken produced, the group said.
