Is KFC surviving or thriving? And also, the return of its chicken wraps

The chicken restaurant, first franchised in Salt Lake City and known for its 11 herbs and spices, is bringing back (for a limited time) its chicken wraps on Monday.

The classic wrap is a flour tortilla with an extra crispy chicken tender, mayo, lettuce and pickles. Another option for the wrap, per KTLA 5, is a flour tortilla filled with an extra crispy tender, coleslaw, spicy sauce and pickles. These wraps return to the fried chicken joint on Monday and are also available in a combo for $7.99 which includes the wrap, fries and a medium drink, or as part of the two-for-$5 meal.

KFC tweeted out the news that they were back on Monday, saying, “Here is a list of things that could be better with our KFC Chicken Wraps: 1. Everything.”

The return of the chicken wraps at KFC comes after an unexpected viral moment around fast-food chicken wraps.

There was something of a renaissance of the wrap craze during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Mashed, McDonald’s released its snack wraps in 2006 during a marketing campaign to show that it had healthier food. Soon after, Wendy’s and KFC launched chicken wraps that were popular, too.

Eventually though, the wrap craze of the 2000s died down and the snack wraps were discontinued, with no sign from the Golden Arches restaurant of them returning.

Then, in 2021, Mashed reported that a video went viral on TikTok rumoring the return of the snack wraps. While McDonalds didn’t have any plans of making snack wraps come back at that time, TikTok users reminisced about their love for snack wraps. Google Trends shows that into 2022, there was increased search traffic for McDonald’s snack wraps.

KFC’s wraps were pulled in 2014, although they were piloted again in 2022. According to CNN Business, the chain redid its wraps and brought them back.

“The revamped version, called simply ‘Kentucky Fried Chicken Wraps,’ comes in three options: a classic chicken wrap, a macaroni and cheese wrap that combines a chicken tender with its popular side dish, and a wrap that combines a chicken tender with coleslaw,” CNN reported. “Each item costs $3.”

Even though the mac and cheese wrap didn’t make it through testing, the others were able to make it through.

Is KFC still popular?

It seems like KFC isn’t just surviving — it’s thriving.

You may have fond childhood memories of having one of KFC’s classic red and white buckets of chicken at a picnic or remember the buttery, flaky biscuits. And it seems that the chain is still booming in popularity.

Some data suggests that KFC is the most searched restaurant, even beating out McDonald’s. According to Foodbeast, across 83 countries, KFC is the most searched fast-food restaurant.

One poll by YouGov showed that 99% of U.S. adults have heard of the brand, while 64% liked it, 16% disliked it and 19% were neutral. This made it the ninth most popular food brand in the U.S. This polling data had Baskin-Robbins as first, followed by Dairy Queen, Krispy Kreme, Wendy’s, Cinnabon, Pizza Hut, Dunkin Donuts and Arby’s.

It seems that the world still finds this chicken restaurant finger-lickin’ good.