Its about the right to have bacon on yer burgers….

I have never been fond of Kentucky Fried Chicken, in fact as I write I struggle to remember the last time that I have eaten any of their cuisine, It must be at least twelve years ago at my brothers house while we were working on an engine swap for the Nissan 620 Ute that I had at the time. I was decidedly underwhelmed but ate it because, well, I was hungry. That is by the by really because since that time the franchise has tried to clean up its image and move into the burger market. They have changed their name to the acronym “KFC” so that they can play down the fact that their signature line is deep fried with a fat absorbing coating that scares cardiologists witless. But moving into the burger line meant that those ever popular garnishes, bacon and cheese became part of the menu.

Trial: This KFC in Burton-on-Trent is one of five reverting to the old non-halal menu after poor sales

KFC has been forced to ditch their halal-only menus at some of its stores after disappointing sales.

The fast food chain began trials last year, saying it was responding to huge demand from Britain’s growing Muslim population.

But thousands of regular customers complained, including Alan Phillips, who was furious when the Burton-on-Trent branch refused to serve him his favourite Big Daddy chicken burger with bacon and cheese topping.

He was told it was forbidden to keep bacon on the same premises as halal meat and he would have to travel five miles to the nearest non-halal restaurant.

Now KFC has admitted five of its outlets – including Burton – are reverting to standard menus following poor sales.

Another that will drop the trial halal menu is the Colne takeaway in Burnley, Lancashire, where thousands of people joined a Facebook group called No Halal at Colne KFC.

Takeaways at: Accrington, Lancashire, Old Kent Road, London, and Hyde Road, Manchester, as well as Burton and Colne, will revert to full menus on 19 July.

No one will stay in business if they don’t meet the expectations of the customers and It seems that KFC is learning a costly lesson about not upsetting  your customer base in an effort to pander to a religious minority who are not obliged to buy your product anyway.

I have always found the ideas inherent in dietary codes like Halal or Kosher rather bizarre and there are some clear questions about cruelty in the methods of animal  slaughter prescribed therein. However if people want to use either as the basis of their eating decisions that is of course their choice . The problem here lies in the notion that we unbelievers in the majority should have the same restrictions and caveats imposed upon us so as not to offend a  minority. We have seen this sort of thing happen in our prisons and our schools but it is interesting to me that when it comes to a popular franchise like KFC attempts to make their outlets consistent with a religious dietary dogma are being so vociferously  resisted by the people who count most in business, the customers.

Cheers Comrades