Mama Ngina street in Nairobi and Garden City on Thika Road are set to get new Kentucky Fried Chicken ( KFC) in an expansion buoyed by the growing popularity of the brand in Kenya.
In an interview with TechMoran, KFC’s Justin Melvin said that the Garden City outlet will be ready for opening by the end of May while the one on Mama Ngina street will be ready for opening in September.
The Hub in Karen will be getting an outlet by end of September as well. Cost of expansion was however not revealed.
“The most important thing for us is convenience. We look for a place that is easy to access, has strong visibility and has dense population,” Melvin.
The Company also denied laxity in hygienic conditions at their outlets as had been reported earlier.
Limuru Road KFC Branch manager Seelah Bilindi said that they have been taking exceptional care as far as quality assurance is concerned among them hand cleaning every thirty minutes, ensuring their sauce is fresh every 60 hrs, lettuce changed after four hours.
The oil used to cook undergoes a visibility test that ensures freshness of the oil and if not it is immediately discarded. If food has not been bought it has to be discarded after two hours and to strike a balance between ensuring freshness and having a successful business, KFC ensures that they cook food that will be eaten immediately and make more when they need to.
Bilindi also denied the fact KFC sources all its raw materials outside pointing out that only their potato chips come from Egypt already blanched and ready for cooking. The chicken, packaging, buns, cooking oil and other vegetable ingredients are sourced within Kenya and the company takes an audit of its suppliers twice every year to ensure quality of all the raw materials.
Coming behind the heels of other stores the Limuru Road store will also start delivering orders to places within 8 minutes radius.
KFC came into the Kenyan scene in 2011 when South African entrepreneur Simon Schaffer bought the franchise licence to run the business.
The drive to join Kenya’s economy was driven by an increasing number of households in the country with disposable incomes.