Two KFC restaurants closed in Fresno. Will free chicken turn the company around?
KFC’s fried chicken recipe may have 11 herbs and spices, but there are two fewer places to get it in Fresno.
Two KFC locations closed in recent weeks, the drive-thru fast food restaurants shut down and windows boarded up.
One closed location is at the southwest corner of First Street and Bullard Avenue, near the Politi Library. The other is near the northeast corner of Dakota and West avenues.
The brand still has nine restaurants in Fresno and Clovis.
The two KFC restaurants that closed are owned by franchisee Jem Restaurant Management. Based in Fresno, it owns several other KFCs and Wendy’s.
The company did not return several requests for comment about why the locations closed. Nor did KFC’s parent company, Yum! Brands.
Both KFCs had ratings of 1.7 out of 5 stars on review site Yelp.com. (With one reviewer’s one-star review at the West Avenue location saying: “This KFC should be shut down it is absolutely horrible everything was super greasy.”)
The Dakota and West avenues location, built in 1992, is up for lease by Retail California. The 2,516-square-foot restaurant “is an existing fast food restaurant with a drive-thru, which is extremely difficult to find,” according to the listing.
What’s going on with KFC?
Although its buckets of fried chicken and mashed potato sides are classics, the restaurant has struggled in recent years. Sales are slipping.
KFC recently lost its spot as the No. 3 chicken chain by sales to Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers (which draws big crowds to the flurry of drive-thrus in Fresno and Clovis that it opened in recent years). Both chains trail Chick-fil-A and Popeyes in sales.
Several dozen KFC locations owned by the same franchisee closed abruptly in the Midwest last year.
And the company — originally named Kentucky Fried Chicken — moved its headquarters out of Kentucky to Texas in February, reportedly to save on taxes.
But KFC isn’t letting 75 years of business go without a fight. It just announced a “comeback.”
The company is acknowledging its struggles.
“The Colonel would not be happy about our market share,” said president of KFC U.S., Catherine Tan-Gillespie.
In addition to adding fried pickles to the menu, it’s trying to lure customers back with an offer of a free bucket of chicken. The deal is only available on KFC.com or in the app for participating stores through KFC Rewards account with $15 or more online purchase.
