Monday 6 September 2010

New KFC money making scheme

[Yes, I eat KFC. Deal with it.]

KFC recently changed how they do meals(*). At least at the outlet I use, instead of cups they used cans and bottles of soft drink. However, recently, they installed those drink dispensing machines (no idea if they have unlimited refill) and now, if you want a can or a bottle, you have to pay 50 cents more.

So, instead of a recyclable can or bottle, we now get those dinky plastic cups. I'm not sure if the cups hold the same amount of drink, but they look smaller. (I could be mistaken, I haven't measured it). If so, they are saving on the amount of drink, and probably the soft drink liquid in bulk is cheaper anyway. But if you want something that won't spill (want to trust the lid?) you get charged an extra 50 cents.

And before, to upsize the meal was a dollar. Now it's a dollar fifty. And then still fifty cents more to get a bottle and not a large cup.

In one small change, KFC have managed to hurt the environment, save on the amount of drink brought, and make yet more money if you don't want to use a plastic cup. And if you are hungry (or fat).

From a business perspective, that's a nice trick. Will have to see if this will change foot traffic. Certainly I'm more inclined not to go there...

(*) And when GST increase hits in a few weeks, I won't be surprised to see another increase to make more money, but I'll post about GST later.

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