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Comment by jedimastert | Hacker News Reader

Austin McConnell made a video about 4 years ago on the decline of KFC[0] and just made a follow up last night[1] about how they've gotten a lot worse in a bunch of metrics but are still for some reason blowing budget on stupid marketing.

On a more personal note, my mom grew up down the street from Sanders and it's always left a really bad taste in my mouth what they've done with his image. It's not like he was some made up character made to encapsulate the feel of a old-timey southern gentleman or whatever, he was a real guy they turned into a caricature to try to catch the "ironic" wave with the youths

[0]:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1eaQrxA6ZE

[1]:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np5tFlmRUIc

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Out of all the marketing that the colonel didn't like it seems like the current campaign would have been one he was OK with seeing as he was still alive and well when the Japanese statues of him came out. What he hated was how they destroyed the taste of his chicken and sides which have continued to become crap over the years. MBAs have made sure KFC will never be as good as Popeyes.

https://soranews24.com/2018/07/22/kfc-japan-rolls-out-statue...

> MBAs have made sure KFC will never be as good as Popeyes.

While far superior to KFC, Popeyes has second tier chicken. It wasn't Popeyes that killed KFC as a business, it was Chick-fil-A, which has conquered the chicken fast food market in the US and will continue to bury everyone else. They have far better chicken than Popeyes.

Have you tried the new Popeyes chicken sandwich? In my opinion the spicy version is the single best item of fast food on the market today. The quality of the chicken is superior.

The chicken is and when compared directly to the Chick-Fil-A equivalent its definitely better.

But I never ordered the Chick-Fil-A equivalent. After the initial time trying it, I don't get whats all that enjoyable about a sandwich that is just bread, chicken, and a couple pickles. Once Popeye's gets lettuce, tomato, and cheese then I may have no reason to ever go to Chick-Fil-A

as a self-appointed connoisseur of fried poultry, and after EXTENSIVE (and delicious) testing, i can come to no other conclusion except that i agree w/this statement: spicy popeye's chix sammy >>>> chick-fil-a.

They’re not exactly the same market—Chick-Fil-A is chicken sandwiches which Popeye’s didn’t have until recently, and I don’t know if KFC ever did. And Popeye’s and KFC sell fried chicken pieces, which Chick-Fil-A doesn’t. When I’m in the mood for fried chicken, I’m usually not after a sandwich.

And I’ll agree that Chick-Fil-A is good, but I think their biggest selling point is their customer service, not their chicken.

I swear I remember KFC being delicious, though that may be rose tinted glasses. I went a few weeks ago for the first time in a long time and the chicken just tastes like MSG without much else. It was really disappointing for something that was once a guilty pleasure.

I'm a long way from home and grabbed a KFC meal over Thanksgiving. I haven't had it since ... 2015, I think? and that was overseas.

My dad would sometimes buy it when we were kids, and it did hit the nostalgia buttons while also providing me with a few days worth of food. It tasted like I remember it. Sure it's fast food chicken, but it's not bad.

Although I guess when comparing it to Popeyes and some of the other fast food chicken offerings, it hasn't provided anything new in a while. Maybe they should try to get into the chicken sandwich space and try to market against Chick-fil-a?

I suspect this console will turn into a relic we'll see in videos 10 years from now, similar to the Hot Wheels and Barbie PC. At least it will probably be more useful than an Ouya.

> and that was overseas.

in 2010, i was lucky enough to have KFC in beijing. it's a totally different experience, and was absolutely delicious.

once covid stops being a PITA, and travel becomes a reality, i strongly recommend trying out american fast food chains in other countries. i'm almost always surprised w/the quality!

Except McDonald’s, which for the core menu, tastes identical the world over. I believe this is deliberate and by design. They also accept USD in lieu of local tender the world over too (but you’ll get your change in local tender).

> I swear I remember KFC being delicious

Not as delicious as Roy Rogers. As a kid - Roy Rogers > KFC > Popeye's. Too bad Roy Rogers disappeared at the turn of the century. Now Popeye's > KFC but man do I miss the crispy Roy Rogers chicken.

MSG is safe. https://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/eat-run/articles...

Who said anything about safe or unsafe?

It's a 'flavour enhancer' that can taint food with its own taste.

Salt is a flavor enhancer that can taint food with its taste. Do you hat salt?

If the food tastes like just salt without much else, then obviously that's not great. How is this a difficult point to understand? It's the quantity that's the problem, not simply the presence of it.

The point being your statement is a completely useless statement. Any ingredient can taint a dish with its own taste.

Too much salt is unpleasant and can also be unhealthy, fwiw.

Oh, and my wife does hate salt, so I get used to less of it.

Yeah I like MSG and use it at home. But I don't want it to be the only thing I taste. I really couldn't taste any other seasonings except maybe a bit of pepper.

That's cool. It's also safe to eat tomato aspic, but I still find that eating too much of it is undesirable.

But does MSG taste good?

MSG is naturally occurring in things like seaweed, tomatoes, mushrooms, and Parmesan cheese.

It tastes fine given the popularity of those food items.

I quite like the taste, it has a mild but distinctive flavor but it's much better in the background and it can be overpowering if it's the main flavor, which was my complaint with KFC. Kinda similar to salt, a bit of salt makes everything else taste better but too much overwhelms.

MSG is neither terribly dangerous nor perfectly fine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-POAKKH5IM

An interesting commentary on both of the above questions.

The issue in the context is MSG tastes like what “mono-sodium glutamate” would taste like.

The video about both about what MSG tastes like, and it's safety... hence I posted the link.

There is an extremely interesting Damn Interesting article on Colonel Sanders: https://www.damninteresting.com/colonels-of-truth/

That was interesting, thanks.

And claims that the 'special spice mix' is now nothing special at all, that would make sense, there's not a great deal of flavour in the coating on KFC - I'm sure it used to have more to it when I was younger

Had KFC a few weeks ago for the first time in forever. The MBAs have optimized the flavor right out of it. Biscuits tasted like flour. Only flavor the chicken had was the seasoning in the batter.

I'm Australian but living in the UK -- it's common for Australians coming here to be shocked at how disgusting KFC is here. It really does seem like they're trying to make things dry and flavourless and use the wrong sauce for everything, the gulf in quality is really surprising for such a big company.

Can you describe for us what the flavor's like in AU? I'm curious to know what I'm missing.

I would guess, altho I've since turned vegan and never tried it, that their flagship original recipe chicken is identical or similar.

But the wraps, burgers etc are very dry in the UK. The bun is dry and styrofoamy, the sauces are weird and seem out of place, overly sweet and too tangy, very artificial, and just the wrong choice. The vegetables seem less fresh and more flavourless.

The chips are unsalted and underseadoned and bland.

I tried it enough times to be sure it wasn't just a Covid induced lack of taste.

I've since stopped eating at large American chains and stopped eating animal products altogether, so it won't be a worry for me in the future.

KFC in Korea is quite good, more like how I remember KFC as a kid. That said, other fried chicken in Korea is so much better that it seems pointless to eat KFC.

Eating KFC in Korea should be a crime.

Why? Pizza Hut was a fun experience as a Western group visiting Hong Kong some years ago; it isn't nearly what you'd think for "Pizza Hut"!

The point being: perhaps the local branding runs differently. McDonalds was mostly the same, though having real sugar and fish oil instead of corn oil was also a fascinating experience.

Fried chicken in Korea is extremely good, it's one of the best things they do, you're really robbing yourself if you bother to eat KFC.

PIzza in Korea, however, is often not like the rest of the world and, in my opinion... not very good.

Pizza in Korea is completely different from Pizza from the west. Fried chicken is not.

Fried chicken is different in Korea, notably the type of seasonings and the double frying.

I already know, you're missing the point.

The Pizza in Korea is an entirely different thing altogether, much more than so than some HN people would screech their heads off at comparing Italian Pizza to the US.

The fried chicken is pretty much the same but better, because of better process. Also better chicken breed.

I've had both. They taste different in terms of flavor profile and texture and are definitely not interchangeable. Sometimes you want one and sometimes you want the other.

Saying that one is "better" in the vast category that is fried chicken is like trying to insist on the superiority of differently flavored noodle dishes.

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