Behind the scenes at KFC

Kentucky Fried Chicken Bryanston at Sandton View Shopping Centre opened its kitchen doors to journalists.

The first KFC was opened in Orange Grove, Johannesburg, South Africa in 1971. It operates through a holding company called Yum Restaurants International (PTY) Limited, (‘YRI Africa’).

KFC is famous for their ‘Original Recipe Chicken’ (ORC), with the combination of 11 herbs and spices, it has created a nationwide reputation for perfectly cooked chicken. Along with other corporate social responsibility initiatives, KFC has the ‘Add Hope’ campaign which commenced in 2009. Customers can add R2 onto their meal account; all proceeds are donated to helping feed the children of South Africa, with over 70 beneficiaries’ country wide.

Operations manager for RSC KFC Fourie Bornman opened their Brystanston branch to investigation by the querying eyes of the media in order

to dispel any myths that are associated with the KFC brand. Bornman shed all layers to the cooking process not hiding and divulging all information, showing the freezer and storerooms.

All products are delivered to the branches three times a week to ensure the utmost freshness and quality of the food. The only products

that are cooked from frozen are the pops, strips and snack burger patties. The rest of the products are prepared fresh in house.

Often the public questions where the chickens come from. The chickens are Star Audited by a strict scheme of inspection to ensure that no

steroids, hormones or over feeding has occurred during rendering process. The chickens are sourced from well-known brands such as Rainbow Chicken and Supreme.

All chickens are free roaming in a controlled environment that ensures that no diseases are contracted.

Each delivery consists of ‘Heads of chicken’ meaning chicken cut into 9 pieces, like drum sticks, breasts and thighs. All products,

including the milk from Clover, are put through this rigorous process.

The cold items are kept at a temperature of below 4 degC and the hot food is kept at 60degC. Chicken on the bone is kept in the heating

racks with time tags for no longer than 1 hour and 30 minutes. Their motto is ‘Cook less more often’ as this allows for the least amount of waste, which is kept under strict conditions in clearly marked blue bins which is frozen and counted by branch managers.

To address the matter of food wastage, no food is sold to a customer after the time tag of 1 hour and 30 minutes has expired. As a result of this, KFC will not donate the food to the underprivileged, as they feel that there should be no difference in the quality of food given to the less fortunate.

Bornman walked through the kitchen explaining and allowing the journalists to go through all of the cleaning procedures.

Starting with a routine hand wash, dry and then a gel sanitiser is used. All cleaning chemicals are measured with an acid to guarantee the correct levels of sanitation.

We were put to the test of breading and making our own KFC chicken which, to the naive eye, seems easy. In actual fact, it takes quite a

skilled method of dipping the chicken into the flour mix of the ORC spice, egg and milk powder.

Each employee is trained for 90 days before being allowed to cook any of the food served to the customers. The store employees were all

friendly and accommodating by explaining step-by-step how the chicken is prepared.

Details: www.KFC.co.za or 086 010 0222