Via The Africa Report, an article on KFC’s growing presence in Morocco:

With 10 new stores announced for 2023, American fast-food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken is on schedule for its expansion efforts throughout Morocco.

With a goal of 10 openings and 35 points of sale by the end of the year, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), the American fried chicken fast-food chain, remains on-schedule with its recently announced roadmap in Morocco. Although KFC is still behind McDonald’s, it continues to outpace Burger King.

“Through this year’s expansion plan, we are committed to being closer to our customers by serving them quality meals according to the highest international standards,” the group assures, underlining that within the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region, “the Moroccan market is now capturing the second-best expansion, after Saudi Arabia.”

Service stations
The 10 openings planned for 2023 are expected to create some 300 jobs. Last year, KFC launched the same number of new outlets thanks to a MAD30m (about $2.9m) investment, boosting the Louisville-based Yum! Brands company with sister brands Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.

Its Casablanca-based activities have been steered by Anass Kadmiri, the operations director for Morocco, Jordan, and Lebanon since 2018, on behalf of Kuwait Food Company (Americana), the company that develops KFC in North Africa.

We are working to adapt our messages and prices to best meet consumer demand.

As Americana’s flagship company, it is owned by Adeptio – the investment fund of Emirati businessman Mohamed Alabbar – and the Public Investment Fund, which is Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.

KFC, which last year launched its first drive-through on the Azemour road in Dar Bouazza via an investment of MAD20m, says some of this year’s openings will establish its presence at service stations.

Local procurement
In April 2022, the franchisee entered into a partnership with the Bimbo Group, a Mexican bakery giant, to expand its offerings to include buns, cupcakes, and tortillas.

Like its competitors McDonald’s and Burger King, KFC emphasises the quality of its products, the use of local sourcing, and the development of offers adapted to local tastes.

“We carry out periodic studies to find out the needs and requirements of our local target group; as such, we are working to adapt our messages and prices to best meet consumer demand,” the company said, pointing out that “80% of ingredients used in KFC’s recipes are Moroccan and 100% of the chicken processed is locally sourced”.

“All our suppliers are systematically required to implement quality control and traceability of all their activities,” says the company, which has been present in the kingdom for over 20 years.

McDonald’s remains the leader
Even as KFC maintains a solid rhythm of openings in Morocco, the brand is yet to overtake McDonald’s, which is the country’s long running fast-food chain. McDonald’s was established in Morocco more than 30 years ago and has a 58 outlet-network located in more than 20 cities. Burger King comes in third place with around 20 outlets in the kingdom.

On a continental level, however, KFC has the largest footprint, with a presence in 25 countries, compared to only four for McDonald’s (South Africa, Morocco, Egypt, and Tunisia) and eight for Burger King (South Africa, Morocco, Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Liberia, and Côte d’Ivoire).