Kentucky Fried Chicken has launched a new initiative in an attempt to win back its customers’ trust.
Jason Marker, president of the U.S. division of the chicken chain, explained the company is trying to get back to their roots, as reported by Business Insider.
"Customers were saying, 'Your food doesn't taste the same,'" Marker said in a press event. "We're not making the food the same way the Colonel had, and we're not making food in what he described as 'the hard way.' Today marks the end of that."
In recent years, KFC has struggled to keep up with rivals such as Chick-fil-A and with the changing demands of the modern casual dining. Kevin Hochman, KFC’s Chief Marketing Officer, stated that only 40 percent of millennials have ever visited a KFC franchise.
"I think it's fair to say that we haven't been living up to the standards or the philosophy of Colonel Sanders himself," Marker explained.
However, through a process called "Re-Colonelization," the organization is committing itself to quality and customer satisfaction once again
The company has established a new satisfaction guarantee and employee retraining procedures in order to reach higher standards and hopefully draw new customers to the restaurant. If customers are unhappy with their meal, the restaurant will remake whatever part of the order was not to their liking.
Furthermore, the company has launched a “chicken mastery certification” program to retrain over 20,000 employees throughout a period of more than 100,000 hours. The program included 43 rallies throughout the United States, which were attended by over 97 percent of the restaurant’s general managers. Training events were established at every KFC restaurant in the country.
Through these extensive efforts, the "Re-Colonelization" program may indeed put KFC back on the map.