KFC unveils East-West breakfast menu

A model displays KFC's new breakfast selection, a fusion of Eastern and Western styles, including rice porridge, baked wheat rolls and tortilla egg wraps, at a KFC branch in Taipei yesterday. PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES

Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC, 肯德雞) Corp began selling rice porridge yesterday at its 70 chain restaurants around Taiwan, following its inclusion of the popular fried bread stick -- youtiao (油條) -- on its breakfast menu in Shanghai in January.

Taiwan KFC's move to introduce a breakfast that is a fusion of Eastern and Western styles came in response to the results of a recent survey that showed a significant preference among people who eat out for a fusion-style breakfast.

The survey, conducted by KFC, showed that 43.67 percent of customers in Taiwan between the ages of 13 and 49 eat out at breakfast time and they usually order hamburgers, sandwiches and Chinese-style pancakes with eggs.

The respondents said they would prefer to have more varied and balanced meals at breakfast time.

With this in mind, KFC Taiwan director of marketing Kitty Liu (劉家潾) said the fast food chain developed a breakfast menu that is composed of three different kinds of rice porridge, two kinds of tortilla egg wraps and two kinds of baked wheat rolls -- known locally as shaobing (燒餅) -- with ham and cheese or smoked chicken.

The cost of the KFC set-menu breakfast -- one main selection with a standard cup of coffee or milk tea -- is between NT$55 and NT$68.

KFC's new menu is seen likely to spark a battle for breakfast customers among major fast food chains, including McDonald's, where a similar meal costs between NT$75 and NT$80, and Mos Burger (摩斯漢堡), where customers can obtain a similar breakfast for NT$70 to NT$75.