Mid-Michigan Dining

Not in Lansing this time, but still, I was at the South Cedar Street KFC a few weeks ago and they ran out of chicken they had on special.  This time, a New York City KFC runs out of grilled chicken after too many people come in with free coupons.

Customers at a New York City KFC hoping to redeem coupons for a free meal were disgruntled when the fast-food restaurant ran out of its new grilled chicken, but Internet rumors of a riot were unfounded, a Kentucky Fried Chicken spokeswoman said Wednesday. “Some customers were upset because they couldn’t get their chicken, but there was no riot,” said Laurie Schalow.

Schalow said the Manhattan restaurant on East 42nd Street plans to begin honoring the coupons again Thursday after it resupplies the kitchen.

[snip]

Schalow said the grilled chicken has been a huge success, and the combination of a bad economy and Oprah’s popularity created a “perfect storm.”

“We prepared for it,” Schalow said, noting that a KFC restaurant can only serve so many people during the lunch and dinner hours. “We didn’t prepare for this extreme.”

Really?!  You’re giving away FREE chicken…hell, a FREE meal and you’re surprised about how many people are coming in?  J printed out a couple of the coupons (there’s more than one KFC in the area) and so did her co-workers.  They all went for chicken Tuesday night and with a drink, she got more food than she could eat for less than three bucks.  I got ten e-mails from friends yesterday with the subject line “Lunch is on me” with a link to the coupon. 

I’m surprised it hasn’t happened at more places.