- [Kento] I'm Kento Bento. This video is made possible by Skillshare, Home to over 28,000 classes
to teach you a new life skill. We've already covered
McDonald's on this channel, and, well, now it's time for some KFC. Kentucky Fried Chicken is the world's
second largest restaurant chain, after McDonald's, with over 23,000 outlets in more than 140 countries and
territories around the world. Now recently, the number of KFC
outlets has been declining in the US, but the company has actually
continued to grow over in Asia. In fact, KFC's largest market
lies on this continent, we'll get to that soon. KFC was founded on March
20th, 1930 in Kentucky, about 90 years ago, with its very first franchise
opening in Utah in 1952. Just a year later, it
made its way to Canada, and in 1965, the first overseas franchise
outside of North America opened in the UK. Now, it's from this point where
KFC enters the Asian market, well before McDonald's, and in this video, I'll be taking
you through the next 54 years of KFC's Asian ascension. So, which Asian country was
the first to open a KFC? What did KFC have to sacrifice in
order to compete with local markets? And how much of Asia is
there still left to conquer, as of today? Indeed , we'll get to all of
that, so grab a Zinger Burger, maybe some drumsticks, and we'll explore every Asian
country to have ever had a KFC. The first Asian KFC opened its
doors in the Philippines in 1966, perhaps a surprise to some. When you think Philippines
and fast food though, KFC or even McDonald's might
not be what first comes to mind. Rather, it's probably Jollibee,
as many of you pointed out. A strong rival local franchise
serving many a Filipino favorites. Against such a formidable foe,
KFC Philippines required a new strategy, and it seemed they eventually
settled on one of culinary creativity, as demonstrated by this, and
this, and this, and this. Indeed these were quick sellers, despite many on social
media accusing the franchise of crimes against humanity. Now moving on from the
deliciously horrifying, four years later in 1970, KFC arrived in Osaka, Japan,
the first in East Asia. Following years of negotiations, the franchise rights to
KFC Japan was awarded to the Mitsubishi Corporation. Mitsubishi was able to
quickly grow the franchise, opening 100 KFC outlets nationwide
within just three years. Today, Japan is the
third-largest market for KFC, behind the US. It has to be mentioned that
a big part of their success though, comes from a Japanese tradition where KFC is widely eaten
during Christmas time. This apparently came to be when a
group of foreigners in the 1970s couldn't find turkey
on Christmas Day, they opted for the
Colonel's chicken instead, as the next best thing. Execs took notice and soon launched
a successful marketing campaign called "Kentucky for Christmas". KFC now records its highest
sales volume on December 24th, with ridiculously long queues
forming outside KFC branches, and many even going as far as
reserving their buckets of premium KFC a month in advance. And premium it is, as a KFC Christmas
meal can feature whole roast chickens, red wine, cake, and more, and
all for a pretty hefty sum. I guess it helps that if
you top off Colonel Sanders with a pointy red hat, you pretty much get Santa Claus anyway. Now three years later in 1973,
Hong Kong opened their first KFC, but unlike Japan and the Philippines,
things didn't go according to plan. KFC Hong Kong misjudged the local market and failed to develop a
suitable business model. Additionally, chickens imported from China
were fed fishmeal which ruined the taste. Thus not long after it opened,
KFC Hong Kong was shut down, but we'll get back to that soon. The same year, KFC arrived
in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which is where the
popular Kentucky Nuggets was first conceived. KFC Malaysia is also commendably the first
to employ people with different abilities, as can be seen here. But they're not the first
KFC to set the world record for the largest amount
of fried chicken served in one sitting, because that title belongs to Kuwait, the next to open, and the first stop in what we'll call KFC's
great Middle East expansion. Bahrain, Jordan and Lebanon soon followed, though in the Islamic world, Colonel Sanders and his
chicken often gets confused for being the face of America,
with the trademark red and white, which has sometimes led to trouble, as KFC outlets in past
decades have been targeted in fits of anti-American rage. In 1975, KFC opened in Dubai, the UAE, which apparently is where the
world's first KFC delivery by helicopter took place. Now I thought I'd take this
opportunity to quickly give a special thanks to patron and channel supporter, SwiftestCat, if that is your real name, a resident of Dubai, who
I owe a shout out to. Moving on, we have Saudi Arabia, though KFC there has
extremely stiff competition with a legendary local fast
food chain called "Al Baik", the Kingdom's own version of KFC. In fact, it's so popular amongst its fans, that serious money is
to be made by loading up on Al Baik fried chicken,
getting on a plane, flying across the world
to India, Australia, UK and even the US, just to deliver
cold or lukewarm fried chicken at a considerable markup. This business is actually profitable,
and all the more impressive considering these are countries that
already have KFCs round the corner. Rounding up KFC's regional expansion,
we have Qatar, Oman and Iran. KFC Iran though is worth noting, because things seemed to
have started off great, which isn't surprising given the
heavy Western influence at the time the secularism, mini skirts, and the numerous American
fast food chains, but then something happened. The Iranian Revolution of 1979. Religious clerics took over the
country, with a return to Islamic values and the removal of any
and all things considered of American influence. Women were forced to cover up, Western texts were removed from schools, and American franchises were
shut down, including KFC. To this day, the Colonel
has yet to return. Now back to the East, Singapore was next,
opening a KFC on Somerset Road. KFC Singapore was where the
famous Zinger Burger was created, as well as more recently, the Mac N' Cheese Bun
Fried Chicken Burger, chocolate fries, and, well, this ad, a Bird Box parody, promoting
their own bird box. Then there's the first-ever
KFC open kitchen store, basically a glass-enclosed kitchen that openly shows off the
entire KFC cooking process to the public, shedding light on some of its
most secret kitchen practices. Though if you're hoping to
discover the Colonel's recipe of the 11 herbs and spices,
a coveted trade secret, you wont, as that still
remains strictly confidential. In 1979, KFC landed in Jakarta, Indonesia,
one of the more fascinating ones here, as KFC Indonesia currently employs a
six-time Grammy award winning producer, who has worked on
multi-platinum recordings with the likes of U2, the
Killers, Rolling Stones, to help them sell CDs and chicken. Yes, here, recorded CDs
of Indonesian artists are bundled with chicken orders. CDs are still the best way
to get music in the country due to only a small
percentage of the population having credit cards, and the slow internet
connections hindering streaming, but the way in which people
go out to purchase their CDs isn't conventional, like in a
CD shop as you would expect, rather they go to KFC, which in this sense runs
almost like a record label that just so happens
to sell fried chicken. Now, five years later in 1984,
KFC opened in Seoul, South Korea. Here, the letters K.F.C.
take on a whole new meaning as the country already
has a well-developed fried chicken restaurant
industry of its own, Korean Fried Chicken. Though unlike the
Colonel's original recipe, the ingredients for Korean
Fried Chicken are no secret. Fried chicken in general
is huge in South Korea and competition is stiff,
with chicken joints everywhere. Which is perhaps why KFC,
I mean the Colonel's version, whipped out this monstrosity one
year to separate itself from the pack, the Zinger Double Down King,
with bacon, two cheeses, BBQ sauce, creamy white pepper sauce, a thick grilled beef patty, sandwiched between two spicy
fried chicken filets, oh God. And we all thought the
original Double Down sandwich launched back in 2010 was a crime. 1984 also saw the first KFC
open in Bangkok, Thailand, which seems to have a
thing for ice cream cones? More specifically,
chocolate-coated ice cream in a chocolate cone, topped
with spicy fried chicken bits. Or if that doesn't suit your fancy, there's the sweet waffle
cones filled with spicy sauce and popcorn chicken,
something they call a Chiffle. Though, Urban Dictionary says a chiffle is the chafing in between your
thighs when going for a run. What? But even more random is this,
instead of Colonel Sanders, hey, it's Colonel Hitler,
with his Hitler Fried Chicken. Unsurprisingly, KFC
Thailand wasn't too happy with this Bangkok knockoff,
and threatened to take legal action. It's worth noting however
that this sort of thing actually isn't so uncommon
in this part of the world, but let's save that
topic for another time. Now, at this point, we're
almost halfway through, and I thought I'd share this little stat. Apparently only 12.6%
of you lovely Kentonians have notifications turned on
for the Kento Bento channel, which might explain why my
videos tend to do so poorly right after I publish. So here's a friendly reminder to make sure to click that bell
button so you never miss another Kento Bento video. Right, moving on, it's
Israel's time to have a KFC, opening a branch in Tel Aviv. Unfortunately for them,
this quickly went the way of Iran and Hong Kong, and low demand led to the shutdown
of their one and only branch. Speaking of Hong Kong though, 1985 saw KFC revived
under different ownership. This time, they were able to develop
a more suitable business model, and they stuck around, even
expanding to neighboring Macau. For those wondering,
KFC Hong Kong and Macau are the ones responsible for popularizing
those delicious Portuguese-style egg tarts that you tend to see in most KFC
branches across East and Southeast Asia. Now more recently, they've
been known for their ingenuity when it comes to their
promotional practices, including this play on the
"Game of Thrones" finale, as well as promoting
their own brand of edible, fried chicken nail polish, that wearers can lick at any time
to get that familiar KFC taste. Truly "Finger lickin' good". Taiwan was next, with a branch in Taipei, and just like South Korea,
fried chicken there is king. Though KFC Taiwan, unlike any other,
takes their chicken a step further, marinating each piece in sugar and soy, and dredging in an additional
secret layer of crispy coating. The chicken is also
covered with star anise, basil leaves, cloves, Chinese cinnamon,
fennel seeds, and Sichuan pepper, before being deep-fried twice to give it a more crunchy
and flaky exterior. This is a KFC upgrade I need in my life. Now here's the big one. Two years later in 1987, KFC
opened in Beijing, China. Things started out rough though when they attempted to
translate the aforementioned "Finger lickin' good" slogan
into Chinese characters. What came out was "eat your fingers off". The Chinese were confused,
strange marketing they thought. Regardless, after some initial missteps, they were able to quickly
figure out their market and expand rapidly, with
a new branch at one point opening every 18 hours. Today, they are KFC's
single largest market, ahead of the US. One of the reasons for
KFC's success in China is due to their localized menu items, throwing out unpopular Western dishes like the classic coleslaw
and mashed potatoes, and replacing it with
more palatable options like tree fungus, bamboo shoots, congee, fried dough sticks, and
Peking chicken wraps. Even regional differences are adhered to, so the KFC spicy chicken
in Sichuan for example, is much hotter than in Shanghai. In the western province of Xinjiang where there is a large
Muslim Uighur population, some KFC franchises go
further with regional customs, taking the unusual step of attracting potential local Uighur
customers by advertising KFC as the perfect venue for
traditional circumcision parties. Yeah, I'll leave it at that. The next few years saw
KFC Turkey and KFC Brunei join the party, with both responsible for introducing new
concepts to their countries. The first drive-thru in Brunei,
and the first scroll-thru in Turkey. A scroll-thru branch
allows users to get fed, while scrolling through
their social media feed, by simulating a drive-thru experience with a virtual drive-thru attendant. This is a concept unique
to KFCs in the Middle East. Now, down south, Israel
was still struggling to enter the market, but they received a second
chance with a relaunch in '93. Israel has already shown
to be a notoriously tough market to crack, as over 60% of its
population keeps Kosher, meaning they follow a set
of Jewish dietary laws restricting them from
eating certain foods, such as not mixing meat
and dairy products, which is a problem for KFC, as the original recipe
coating contains milk powder. As such, KFC Israel was simply
not able to make it work, and they once again shut down. Russia was next, with a KFC in Moscow, except it wasn't called
KFC, but rather Rostik's. Rostik's was an existing
Russian chicken franchise that initially owned the
rights to KFC in Russia, but with no intention of keeping
the American branding or name. 17 years later however, Yum Brands, which is now the company that
owns all the KFCs worldwide, was able to buy Rostik's themselves, meaning today the KFC
branding is alive and well. Two years later in 1995,
it was India's turn, with a branch in Bangalore. KFC India has the most
extensive meat-free menu across the chain's global operations, which is to be expected. Though whats not expected
is their penchant for serving up chicken in
bizarre takeaway boxes. By which I mean takeaway
boxes given to customers that double as random
gadgets, like the Watt-A-Box, where you can grab fried
chicken out of a box that just so happens to work
as a mobile phone charger, or better yet, a DIY drone. Presumably the greasiest,
chicken-scented drone in existence. This was marketed as a KFO,
a Kentucky Flying Object. The next couple years, KFC
further expanded in South Asia with outlets in Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Now, Sri Lanka's menu saw new items
added like the KFC Sub and the KFC Biryani, though Pakistan rather chose to double down on a KFC
classic, the Zinger Burger. In fact, Pakistan has a
Zinger Burger obsession, with it being a mainstay of just about every small
restaurant, cart, and snack bar in the capital Karachi.
[Narration Error: Karachi isn't Pakistan's capital] Today, almost every menu and
poster features the same image taken off the KFC website, and that's because back in the days, KFC, and the Zinger by association,
was seen as a status symbol. People bragged about getting
into KFC every night, and this lead to numerous copycats, to the point where the Zinger
eventually became part of local culture. 1997 also saw Vietnam open its
first KFC in Ho Chi Minh City, though they, in particular,
had many struggles trying to stay afloat. Like the time bird flu
was rampaging across Asia, killing chickens and humans alike,
which led to a nationwide ban of poultry. This forced KFC Vietnam
to choose from either closing down all their outlets,
or replacing the C in "KFC". They chose the latter, with KFF,
deciding to replace chicken with fish. In time, however, chicken did
eventually return to the menu. Five years later in 2002,
it was time for round three, because KFC wasn't going to let Israel go. In order to solve the kosher problem
of having milk powder in the coating, KFC scientists in Dallas,
Texas spent two years perfecting a brand new formula. They eventually settled on
replacing the milk-based coating with a soy-based coating, allegedly retaining the same
flavor as the original recipe chicken. This substitution now enabled KFC Israel
to open kosher outlets nationwide, no longer violating rules
against mixing meat and dairy. Now around this time,
KFC arrived in Cyprus. But, I have to say this is
the only country in this video that I couldn't find an opening date for. The official KFC Cyprus website
though seemed to have indicated a 2005-ish launch, so I
guess I'll go with that. But if any Cypriots
watching happen to know a more accurate date, feel free to mention it in the comments. In 2006, KFC landed in Dhaka, Bangladesh, the first country to introduce
beef to the chicken chain. This was done in keeping
with the local taste. Not long after, it was Syria's turn,
with a branch in Damascus. Now the first five
years was good business, but then came the Syrian Civil War, with an uprising against President
Bashar al-Assad's regime. This unfortunately ravaged
Syria's agricultural sector, with the violence making
road transportation unsafe, severely crippling the KFC supply chain. The price of diesel also
increased to up to 600%, as the value of the Syrian pound plunged. As such, poverty among
Syrians increased dramatically which left KFC with
pretty much no customers, and thus, two and a
half years into the war, KFC Syria had to close its doors. Now quickfire here, the
next few years saw KFC make its way to Armenia, the
first KFC in the Caucasus, Nepal, the first with an
all-woman's KFC outlet, Cambodia, where KFC is
targeted more towards the upper to upper-middle
class, and Yemen, which, similar to Syria, eventually had to be shut down
due to an ongoing civil war. In 2010, KFC opened in Astana,
Kazakhstan, the first in Central Asia. This KFC however, is unique, in that its the first to have
served a bit of KFH on their menu, Kentucky Fried Horse, which actually isn't
so strange in a country where horse is part of
the national cuisine. Next was Azerbaijan with a branch in Baku. At one point, KFC Azerbaijan
had the largest KFC in the world with a 300-seater outlet
inside an old Soviet railway station. It has since been overtaken
by one in Ukraine, though Azerbaijan's still
remains the largest in Asia. Now let's go back to KFC Israel,
because something happened in 2012. Yes, outlets nationwide were now
kosher, but there was one major problem. Despite KFC's claim,
the new kosher chicken did not taste the same
as the original chicken, in fact, it tasted worse. There were also related issues, like the batter not sticking
properly to the chicken, and the high cost of
ensuring poultry was killed in accordance to kosher standards. As such, sales took a dive,
to the point where it became no longer sustainable. Eventually, KFC Israel had to be shut
down for a record third time. Funny thing though, is
around this time KFC was able to expand to the rival
Palestinian territories, with a branch in Ramallah. And despite KFC Israel seemingly
shutting down for good, the Palestinian-owned KFC
outlets in the West Bank and even the Gaza Strip
had far more success. The thing about living in Gaza though, is that if you want KFC,
well you can get it, but it ain't going to be easy, because the Gaza Strip is isolated
from the rest of the Palestinian Authority and governed by the controversial
Islamist organization Hamas. It's easy to get KFC
in the West Bank sure, but Gaza is a more complicated mess. Israel controls their airspace,
and maintains a blockade over the borders, which means it's incredibly difficult
for things to legally make it across, including KFC supplies. But as we all know, a
silly thing like the law has never stopped people from
getting what they wanted, and the demand ended up inspiring
one Palestinian businessman to start a KFC smuggling/delivery business. The service enabled Gazans to order
KFC from an outlet in neighboring Egypt, which then is picked up by
an Egyptian taxi driver, who hands it to a courier, who smuggles it through a set of
secret underground tunnels into Gaza, who then delivers it via
motorcycle to the appropriate address. Here, twelve pieces of
cold chicken and fries add up to about $30, with delivery taking up to four
hours, which does beg the question, can this Kentucky Fried Contraband
really be considered "fast food"? In 2013, KFC opened in Mongolia. Just like Brunei though, KFC
Mongolia introduced the nation to their first ever drive-thru, which initially seemed
a simple-enough concept, but it proved tricky, because half the cars in Mongolia feature a right-side steering
wheel, while the rest, a mirror opposite. As such they didn't know where
to put the drive-thru window, though I guess such
issues are rather minor when compared to the
difficulties of establishing reliable supply lines
in a landlocked nation. Now inching closer to present day,
Georgia opened a KFC in 2015, appealing to locals with
menu items accommodating the Georgian Orthodox fasting traditions. Myanmar soon followed
with an outlet in Yangon, their first Western food chain. They saw this as a pretty big deal, greeting the franchise
with an epic KFC flash mob. Next was Iraq and Kyrgyzstan, with outlets in Erbil
and Bishkek respectively, though they were met with
some rather interesting competition with KFG and KentuCKy in Iraq, and Kyrgyz Fried Chicken in Kyrgyzstan. Fake KFC restaurants that
had set up shop long before. 2018 saw KFC then expand West
of the region to Uzbekistan, a country deemed the
future development engine of the whole of Central Asia,
meaning with KFC Uzbekistan as base, the franchise has now huge plans
to expand further into the region. Now rounding off 2018, the Maldives opened their first KFC in their
densely populated capital Male, which, while is the most
recent Asian country to open a KFC, as of
the posting of this video, isn't actually the last
country on our list, despite already expanding
to more countries than even McDonald's. Because supposedly later on in 2019, hard-headed KFC will return,
once again, to Israel, which would mark their fourth
attempt at entering the Israeli market. But what makes them think it'll
turn out any different this time around? Well, the thing is,
Israel has been undergoing a massive shift from the
preference of fine dining to fast food, with a heavy influx of
international consumers accustomed to Western cuisine, making their way now more than
ever from America and Europe, to Israel, so perhaps fourth time will be the charm. But if you ask me, after
three failed attempts, it certainly wouldn't hurt
them to go over the basics of how to successfully
buy and run a franchise, and that goes for any of you
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succulent southern fried chicken, take that, KFC! To how to create your own successful
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