{"id":911753,"date":"2026-10-01T03:18:23","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T03:18:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/911753\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T03:18:23","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T03:18:23","slug":"kfc-unleashes-biggest-overhaul-to-its-menu-in-decades","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/911753\/","title":{"rendered":"KFC unleashes biggest overhaul to its menu in decades"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/topic\/fast-food-26pz\" class=\"sc-iRgEWu hHENWX\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Fast-food giant KFC<\/a> has revealed its biggest menu overhaul in decades, as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/lifestyle\/food\/australia-fast-food-chicken-menu-items-increase-20260812-p60nmn.html\" class=\"sc-iRgEWu hHENWX\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">chicken becomes the new frontier in the takeaway battleground<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The first big shift? A complete transformation of its signature tenders.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Sydney CBD KFC store. Generic fast food, restaurant, retail, chicken. Tuesday 2nd December 2025 AFR photo Louie Douvis\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/390aa8ceba9319f50474e0d9f5028550a1096cf8.png\"  width=\"100%\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"_0b53bae146db0b62 _7475dd3391ee1518\" style=\"--text-color:var(--color-text-secondary)\">From today customers will notice a change to KFC\u2019s chicken tenders \u00a0Australian Financial Review<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.afr.com\/\/companies\/retail\/size-matters-how-kfc-s-test-kitchen-overhauled-the-chicken-tender-20260930-p610y7?btis=\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"sc-iRgEWu hHENWX\">The Australian Financial Review<\/a> reported that over the past 18 months, a team of chefs has developed an updated version of a KFC menu mainstay \u2013 chicken tenders.<\/p>\n<p>KFC senior innovation development manager Kathryn Lake told the AFR that customers wanted bigger, more plump tenders after \u201ca high number of complaints about them\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>This spurred KFC to develop a new chicken tender, described as a crispier and juicer thanks to a change in the way they are cooked.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>KFC South Pacific chief marketing officer Vanessa Rowed told the AFR: \u201cWe are the leaders in chicken, but there are competitors catching up.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It comes as chicken has muscled its way into the menus of countless fast-food chains in recent months.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ibisworld.com\/australia\/industry\/fast-food-takeaway-food-services\/2005\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"sc-iRgEWu hHENWX\">IBISWorld Industry<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ibisworld.com\/australia\/industry\/fast-food-takeaway-food-services\/2005\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"sc-iRgEWu hHENWX\">analyst Sebastian Quinn<\/a> recently told nine.com.au the shift to chicken being a major menu drawcard was most evident in burgers, where it had moved from a secondary option to a core menu offering.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSince the early 2020s, major chains have expanded their chicken burger ranges,\u201d he said. \u201cHungry Jack\u2019s launched Jack\u2019s Fried Chicken in 2021, McDonald\u2019s introduced the McCrispy in 2023.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The popularity of chicken was even an influence behind<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/lifestyle\/food\/fishbowl-thisbowl-name-change-bondi-reopening-20260926-p60zid.html\" class=\"sc-iRgEWu hHENWX\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> FishBowl\u2019s decision to rebrand to ThisBowl earlier this month. <\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"KFC launches new chicken tenders\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/a4340e6deb2af840c7efa62496c68e9d14a6798232ebc179b2b8aa9537561034.jpeg\"  width=\"100%\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"_0b53bae146db0b62 _7475dd3391ee1518\" style=\"--text-color:var(--color-text-secondary)\">KFC launches new chicken tenders\u00a0Supplied<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have all these different things, and now we\u2019re at a point where fish is just no longer the majority,\u201d ThisBowl chief marketing officer Lexi Cotcamp told nine.com.au.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cChicken is the most popular protein in Australia, as well as many other countries in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>ANZ analyst Michael Whitehead said the chicken boom came about post-COVID as families started prioritising affordability.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cChicken also has that perception of being slightly healthier, even if it\u2019s fried, people still perceive it as better than beef,\u201d he told nine.com.au.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo that\u2019s the main driver behind the shift. Chicken is just more versatile in terms of formatting with nuggets, strips, tenders, burgers, and it holds up better in delivery as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While KFC promises it won\u2019t touch its 11 secret herbs and spices recipe as part of its new menu offering that will continue to unfold over the next year and a half, the brand has signalled redesigns to the menu items we\u2019ve grown accustomed to over the past 58 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fast-food giant KFC has revealed its biggest menu overhaul in decades, as chicken becomes the new frontier in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":911754,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,134],"class_list":["post-911753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=911753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911753\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/911754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=911753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=911753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=911753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}