Quality management at Kentucky Fried Chicken

Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) Corporation, a member of the quick-service restaurant industry, uses a sophisticated program to manage the quality of service it offers to its customers. In the last quarter of 1989, the south central division of KFC launched a test program in four Oklahoma City restaurants to improve the speed of service at its drive-through-window operation. It proved extremely successful. The restaurants cut service time by more than half while improving labor productivity. They also dramatically outperformed other restaurants in the division in profits, sales growth, and growth in customer transactions. The improved processes in the test restaurants have served as benchmarks for other KFC restaurants aiming for continuous process improvement, while the reduced service time now serves as the revised specification in KFC’s quality measurement and management program.