KFC Removes Popcorn Chicken, Fried Wings, Strawberry Lemonade and Chocolate Chip Cookies from Menu

Kentucky Fried Chicken has made some interesting changes to its menu. The fast-food chain has done away with Kentucky Fried Chicken wings, popcorn chicken, Nashville Hot sauce, strawberry lemonade, and chocolate chip cookies.

But KFC fans shouldn’t be too concerned because KFC’s original Colonel Sanders recipe with 11 herbs and spices stays.

The eatery has decided to undergo “a menu simplification” to increase efficiency, provide a smoother ordering experience, and allow the company to better focus on innovation, Yahoo Finance reported.

“It’s really to deliver our most popular products perfectly each time and to actually make room for new products.” KFC U.S. Director Brittany Wilson told Yahoo Finance.

Customers can see the changes take place over the next month but on a case-by-case basis to “make room for this big spring of innovation that KFC has coming.”

As for the menu items that will no longer be available, well, they were chosen for specific reasons, they “weren’t available on a national scale or that [they] haven’t necessarily been growing on a national sales mix,” Wilson added.

Justin Stewart, a KFC franchise owner and COO of Stewart Restaurant Group, said his restaurant has already seen improvements since the menu update.

“Our team members have been able to package orders more quickly due to having less items on our pack line. As a result, we’ve reduced our drive-through order time by 11 seconds.”

According to Intouch Insight’s 2022 Annual Drive-Thru Study, KFC’s average wait time was 63.6 seconds, and the total service time on average was roughly 4 minutes.

Accuracy also improved, per Stewart. “By removing less popular menu items, we’ve improved order accuracy and product availability overall, and created space in back of house. We’ve also reduced our controllable costs because of less waste, less prep, and less cleanup time.”

Stewart said KFC customers haven’t minded the removal of menu items, calling the response “positive” and that they are able “to navigate the new menu board more quickly and easily.”