The Kentucky fried chicken Kenyans are queuing up for

A few weeks ago when we were being driven north in a minibus from Johannesburg to Hoedspruit, and when we reached Lydenburg, our driver asked if we would mind if he took a small detour.

“On this trip, this is where I get my lunch of Kentucky Fried Chicken,” he said.

And so he did. “This is the best fried chicken in South Africa,” he said.

Well, it seems that very many South Africans agree with him.

There are over 600 KFC outlets in South Africa. Simon Schaffer’s family has 40 of them – and he has just extended his franchise to Kenya.

The genial face

If you have driven along Ngong Road recently, you can’t have missed the genial face of Colonel Harland Sanders, the founder of KFC, beaming down on you from a high bucket signpost at the edge of Junction Mall.

I’ve Googled Harland Sanders and discovered that before he acquired the honorary title of Colonel, he was a sixth-grade drop-out, a farmhand, an army mule-tender, a locomotive fireman, a railroad worker, an aspiring lawyer, an insurance salesman, a ferryboat entrepreneur, a tyre salesman, an amateur obstetrician, a political candidate (unsuccessful), a motel operator, and finally a restaurateur.

It was in his retirement age that he devised (and kept secret) his recipe for fried chicken; a recipe that is now promoted around the world.

Each day, two million customers are served KFC meals in 109 countries; there are 5,200 KFC restaurants in the USA and more than 15,000 around the world.

And now there is a KFC restaurant in Nairobi. This first is at the Junction. By the end of this year, there will also be one at the Galleria Mall along Langata Road and another on Kimathi Street.

The Junction KFC opened a week last Thursday evening.

On the Saturday morning, I went to have a look. It was only 11 o’clock and there was a queue of over 50. I asked a Junction security guard why it was quickly so popular.

“Because they are bringing chips from America,” he said.

“Can’t we grow potatoes and make chips in Kenya?” I asked.

“Our potatoes are not good enough,” he insisted.

So I decided to check this out as well as try for myself – for the first time – the taste of Colonel Sanders’ recipe.

I made an appointment to meet Gavin Bell who has been appointed General Manager of all the KFC operations in East Africa. (There are plans to open restaurants in Tanzania and Uganda.)