KFC celebrates nine years in Bangladesh

WHEN KFC opened its first store in Bangladesh nine years ago many doubted whether the local franchisee would be able to maintain international standards the global fast food restaurant chain demands.

“Our staff proved them wrong through service, quality of food, values and customer-mania,” said Akku Chowdhury, managing director of Transcom Foods Ltd, the local franchisee of KFC.

“The people who are associated with KFC in Bangladesh are very passionate about what we do. We really want to make a difference.”

On September 6, KFC completed nine years of operations in Bangladesh after Transcom Foods opened its first outlet in Gulshan in 2006, in an effort to bring the world-class brand of foods made of chicken to Bangladesh.

“Since then, it has been a continuous journey for us,” Chowdhury, who has been working with it from the very beginning.

From Gulshan to Adabor, KFC has so far opened 15 stores inside and outside Dhaka to give access to more consumers.

Transcom Foods plans to open three to four more outlets this year as the market is growing, riding on the expansion of the middle class.

Transcom Foods is the franchisee of Yum! Restaurants India Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of Yum! Brands Inc, an American fast food company and a Fortune 500 corporation.

Chowdhury, a valiant freedom fighter, said Transcom Foods does not just give importance to well-decorated outlets, but also to the quality of foods, attitude of the staff and the value it adds.

“From the very first day, we have been promoting customer-mania among our staff, meaning they are there to serve them. I think through this we have been able to change the culture of serving customers.”

Variation in the menu, bringing in new flavours such as the Fiery Grill'd and Tom Yum, having a whole range of burgers to choose from stands for KFC's constant endeavour to remain on a par with the changing consumer market.

Catering to the popular choices and consumer demand, KFC in Bangladesh is bringing in food variations from time to time.

Keeping in mind the local taste, KFC Bangladesh has created history when it introduced beef burger in a store that specialised in chicken only.

“If the experiment in Bangladesh succeeds, many international operations of KFC, especially in the Middle Eastern countries, may introduce it.”

Transcom Foods, however, imports processed beef from Saudi Arabia to ensure the quality of the burgers.

Transcom Foods promotes the country's culture and heritage. “With a lot of efforts, we have been able to convince the management of the KFC International to provide us permission to promote the country's culture and heritage through the decoration of the outlets.”

Chowdhury said all outlets strive to give customers the value for their money.

“For example, we get chicken from our vendors at a discounted rate as we buy in large quantity. It allows us to provide cheap deals to customers.”

“All of this stands for KFC's commitment to give the very best to Bangladeshi consumers and at great value -- always.”

At KFC's Bangladesh outlets, 1,000 people work, mostly students and part-timers.

“We hire the students because we can train them to our specifications. They are also eager to learn to get ready for upward mobility.”

KFC's revenue in Bangladesh is growing at 10 percent annually.

Transcom Foods is owned by Transcom Group headed by Latifur Rahman, who won the Oslo Business for Peace Award in 2012 for socially responsible and ethical business practices.