KFC to sell plant-based chicken in Chinese locations

Fast food brand KFC announced Monday that it would sell plant-based pieces of “chicken” at select restaurants in China for a limited promotion later this month.

Reuters reported that the restaurant announced on the Chinese social media app Weibo that three stores in the cities of Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Shanghai would sell the products made from plant-based meat substitute manufactured by Cargill Ltd.

Customers interested in trying the product over a three-day period at the end of April must purchase a coupon in advance allowing them access to the promotion, which is good for five pieces of plant-based “chicken” at one of the stores. 

The coupons will be good April 28-30, according to Reuters. A similar product made from Cargill’s competitor in the plant-based meat industry, Beyond Meat, debuted at KFC locations in Atlanta last year, with the chain’s president at the time predicting that customers would have a hard time telling the difference between plant-based products and real chicken.

“KFC Beyond Fried Chicken is so delicious, our customers will find it difficult to tell that it’s plant-based,” Kevin Hochman said at the time.

“I think we’ve all heard ‘it tastes like chicken’ — well our customers are going to be amazed and say, ‘it tastes like Kentucky Fried Chicken!'” he added.