Kentucky Fried Miracle: Plant-Based Chicken Sells Out In 5 Hours

SMYRNA, GA — KFC’s launched a test of its new plant-based chicken items on Tuesday at the chain's Cobb Parkway restaurant near SunTrust Park, and company officials said the items sold out in less than five hours. Lines were wrapped around the restaurant starting at 8 am, with double-looped drive-thru lines. Guests purchased in five hours the amount of Beyond Fried Chicken KFC would normally sell on average of popcorn chicken in a week.

The Louisville, Kentucky-based chain is the national first quick service restaurant to introduce a plant-based chicken, in partnership with Beyond Meat. Beyond Fried Chicken debuted in a limited test on August 27.

Beyond Meat began developing its plant-based meat in 2009 and has introduced several products across the brand's beef, pork and poultry platforms.

In a related item, Impossible Foods has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to use a color additive called heme that gives its flagship burger the iron-based look, taste and craving of its meat counterpart.

A major milestone, the FDA change in rules due Sept. 4 paves the way for the Redwood City food distributor to sell its immensely popular Impossible Burger to grocery stores, adding to the 10,000 eateries selling it throughout the United States and Asia.

To help with this expansion, the Silicon Valley startup is partnering with OSI, an Aurora, Ill.-based global food supplier, the company announced.

Impossible Foods makes meat from plants — with a small fraction of the environmental footprint of meat from animals, the Silicon Valley company said. The latest allowance by the FDA to use soy leghemoglobin that contains a meat-lover's heme ups the ante on the highly coveted plant-based market with rivals such as Beyond Meat.

The company's first product, the Impossible Burger, debuted in 2016 and started selling in 7,300 Burger Kings at the end of 2018. In July 2018, Impossible Foods received a no-questions letter from the FDA, which agreed with the unanimous conclusion of a panel of food-safety experts that its key ingredient -- soy leghemoglobin -- is safe to eat.