Case Study No.

3 GE-PC 1 st Semester

December 2, 2022 BSBA- FM1B

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THE CASE STUDY OF KFC COUPON RIOTS

ABSTRACT

This study talks about the launch of KFC’s “Kentucky’s Grilled Chicken” with the
goal of regaining their health-conscious customers who had moved away from buying
their deep-fried products. KFC claimed that this new product was healthier and had
taken its promotion to a greater extent through having an affiliation with Oprah Winfrey,
one of the most influential women in the US. Oprah then promoted it through her show
on the 5th day of May 2009, offering anyone free grilled chicken if they downloaded a
coupon online. Surprisingly, this event ended up being a fiasco, for the number of
people who appeared to claim their “free meals” at KFC restaurants was unprecedented
or was greater than expected. As a result, the local KFC stores were unable to keep up
with all these demands and caused the alleged riot at a certain store in Manhattan.

ISSUES

According to KFC, they did expect millions of these coupons to be downloaded,

but not at an "extreme" rate as it did. They weren't ready for how far their promotion
went, notably the potential amount of people who have taken advantage of the stated
promo. This directly led to people's frustration and the establishments' inability to honor
all these coupons. Besides this, a report from the scene of a KFC store on 42nd Street
between Madison and Park has reached a newsroom powered by MNYC, claiming that
while customers were waiting for their "free meals," a small riot broke out outside the
restaurant with customers screaming at the manager because he would not let them
use their free KFC coupons. It is also reported that customers at that Manhattan
location were disgruntled after KFC ran out of chicken. However, KFC disputes this
claim, and Internet allegations of a riot were unfounded.

Group 3
Case Study No. 3 GE-PC 1 st Semester

December 2, 2022 BSBA- FM1B

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DISCUSSION

Free food is enjoyed by a lot of people everywhere. Therefore, KFC should have
anticipated that many people will take advantage of their free-food-promotion. The
“tsunami” brought on by KFC’s offer of free food was something KFC did not expect but
should have been. The problem is that they failed to assess the possibilities of how
large their promotion reach could grow, and how they could sufficiently meet those
demands. The KFC firm should have prepared well for it, given the popularity of the
Oprah Winfrey show. But it seemed like it wasn’t well thought of and was poorly planned
by the corporation. Although KFC’s “Kentucky’s Grilled Chicken” achieved its popularity
worldwide through this promotion, the negative consequences were undeniable and
transparent. Basically, these turn of events led to customers' low satisfaction which
have directly harmed their brand reputation, as well as their relationship with their
customers. But KFC did not let it stop there. The company thought of a way to mitigate
the situation through issuing rainchecks wherein the customers could use it for later. In
a statement released by the company regarding the issue of these checks, KFC’s
President Roger Eaton stated that, “The lines of customers wanting to redeem their
coupon have been out the door and around the block, so we're unable to redeem
customer coupons at this time. Instead, we will be issuing rainchecks to customers
which can be used at a later date.” The company also apologized for what have
happened, and even included a free Pepsi drink as a compensation for the
inconvenience of their overwhelming offer.

Taking everything into account, KFC must be now smarter in devising their
strategies when it comes to promotions enable to avoid these kinds of incidents from
occurring. Not only must they realize the importance of planning, but also the role of
preparedness in such cases.

Group 3
Case Study No. 3 GE-PC 1 st Semester

December 2, 2022 BSBA- FM1B

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“If you fail to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”

Group 3