KFC: a truly global brand

The last time I ate KFC, it was at a service area near Basildon, during a huge snow fall, and we stopped to break a difficult journey. The first time was when I was a student in the early 1970's when fried chicken was not as ubiquitous. I am a believer in KFC, in whatever incarnation it comes in. It used to be simply Kentucky Fried Chicken, but layers of M and A activity and numerous owners have changed the branding. The menu has changed to reflect the times, but being old school, I still regard it as fried chicken.
In these days of austerity, it have acquired a new status of being something affordable. Whilst the well to do will go and sit down in Nando's, for a cheaper fix, the Colonel will do the trick.
The old thing was the secret mix of herbs and spices that were supposed to give the product its unique flavour. I suspect that this has changed over the years, and the internet confirms that to keep the price down, the flavour is more dilute. The secret is now not so secret, and the suggested make up is:

This is obviously a best guess, but seems to be sort of right according to consensus.
In my opinion, KFC chicken (not speaking about the other variants or the side dishes) represent a decent product sold at reasonable price: last night is was possible to buy food for four (providing they are not greedy) i.e. 8 pieces of chicken and four portions of fries for around £11. This is good value, and represents a cheap and very convenient way of shoveling calories in. This appears to be a global phenomenon, and one thing I learned when I went to Australia in 2005 was that one thing Aboriginals have taken to is that KFC is cheap food. Some anthrosocioligists are concerned that their diet should have turned so radically to calories dominated by fats.
So, how many calories are there in KFC. Another internet resource suggests the following:

Mains

.	Calories	Sugars	Fat	Saturates	Salt
Crispy strips*	112	0.2g	5.4g	1.3g	1.3g
Popcorn chicken (L)	477	0.7g	28.8g	5.8g	3.5g
Popcorn chicken (R)	294	0.4g	17.8g	3.6g	2.3g
Fillet burger (R)	441	5.4g	15.6g	3.4g	2.8g
Tower zinger burger	668	9g	33.3g	6g	4.3g
Zinger burger (R)	481	5.4g	20.8g	2.3g	2.8g
Tower burger (R)	628	9.2g	28.2g	7.1g	4.3g
Hot wings*	93	0.1g	6.4g	1.4g	0.5g
Original recipe chicken (drumstick)	153	0.2g	9g	2g	1.1g
Original recipe chicken (breast)	267	0.5g	12.5g	2.9g	1.4g
Original recipe chicken (drumstick)	153	0.2g	9g	2g	1.1g
Brazer salad	110	2.2g	1.4g	0.5g	0.5g
Brazer Twister	377	3.4g	14.4g	4g	0.9g
Brazer Burger	430	38.3g	25.3g	5.8g	1.1g

·         per item (eg. wing/strip etc)

Best main: Brazer Salad
Worst main:Tower zinger burger

Sides

.	Calories	Sugars	Fat	Saturates	Salt
Coleslaw (R)	134	7.1g	11.2g	0.9g	0.5g
Coleslaw (L)	268	14.2g	22.4g	1.8g	1.3g
Corn cobette	145	1.7g	8.7g	1.3g	Trace
Fries (R)	275	0.4g	13.2g	2.9g	Trace
Fries (L)	377	0.6g	19.4g	4.3g	Trace

Best side: Regular coleslaw BUT it has a very high sugar content
Worst side: Large fries BUT it has low salt and sugar

Given that an average british adult male should have about 2500 Calories, it would seem that two portions of chicken and a portion of fries would offer about 750 with no extras. So in moderation, you can see is ranks with other fried/fat containing take-aways but there is a lot of fat there..

There is much information about the KFC company and its history, and the article on wikipedia is as good as any http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KFC . There are explanation of how the colonel got his title which was metaphorical rather than military. There is very little independent information about KFC. Most of it comes from the company, and clearly they are telling the story that is best for them. Conversely, there is little objective critical information.

For me one of things is where KFC fits into the social hierarchy of food. A visit to a branch tells you that very quickly. By and large, they are not the sort of places that middle England wants to hang around for too long. Similarly the employees are part of that structure. This is not a village tea shop. Looking around a KFC it is clear that the company wants to do the best by everyone, but at the end of the day, those at the bottom end of the team may not get the best of deals initially. However, there does appear to be a career structure, but I have never met anyone who has climbed it. Similarly the business is run as a franchise.There is very little easily obtainable information about how to get and run a franchise, and what sort of profits a franchise owner would make. However, the outlets have a remarkable resilience, and unlike some independent food outlets, they seem to stick. You know where you are.

So KFC gets my vote as good value food, and if you are lucky not bad on the CHOF scale.