{"id":51176,"date":"2022-12-25T12:00:42","date_gmt":"2022-12-25T17:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/kfc-for-christmas-how-the-fast-food-chain-became-a-holiday-hit-in-japan-51176"},"modified":"2022-12-25T12:00:42","modified_gmt":"2022-12-25T17:00:42","slug":"kfc-for-christmas-how-the-fast-food-chain-became-a-holiday-hit-in-japan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/kfc-for-christmas-how-the-fast-food-chain-became-a-holiday-hit-in-japan-51176","title":{"rendered":"KFC for Christmas? How the fast-food chain became a holiday hit in Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Kentucky Fried Chicken has become a massive hit in Japan during the Christmas season, with lines wrapping around the corner and generating enormous sales. Japanese YouTuber Yoko Ishii gave Fox News a look inside how the fast-food chain became a holiday phenomenon over the past 50 years. <\/p>\n<p>KFC Japan records its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/retail-consumer\/kfc-cuts-queues-keep-japans-fried-chicken-christmas-custom-alive-2021-12-14\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">highest annual sales<\/a> figures during the run-up to Christmas, with Dec. 24 serving as the chain\u2019s &#8220;busiest day of the year \u2014 10 times busier than KFC Japan\u2019s annual average,&#8221; according to the company\u2019s website. Ishii said both she and her husband have separately witnessed the massive lines in their hometown of Fukuoka.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/us\/digital-originals\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><u>WATCH MORE FOX NEWS DIGITAL ORIGINALS HERE<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I was walking home, and I saw KFC inside of the big [train] station nearby, and I saw the line,&#8221; Ishii told Fox News. &#8220;I was wondering, \u2018What&#8217;s happening?\u2019&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I realized that they were lined up for Kentucky for Christmas,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S.-based KFC restaurant chain began operating in Japan in 1970 and launched its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/food-drink\/christmas-with-kfc-man-who-popularized-japanese-tradition-claims-he-regrets-his-lie\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">first Christmas-themed<\/a> marketing campaign there four years later.<\/p>\n<p>Ishii said she was familiar with the Kentucky for Christmas slogan as she grew up hearing it advertised on TV. The campaign\u2019s origin traces to an unidentified foreigner who visited a KFC restaurant in Tokyo on Christmas Day sometime in the early 1970s, <a href=\"https:\/\/global.kfc.com\/stories\/how-kentucky-for-christmas-began-in-japan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">according to KFC\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I can\u2019t get turkey in Japan, so I have no choice but to celebrate Christmas with Kentucky Fried Chicken,&#8221; the customer remarked, according to KFC\u2019s account. &#8220;A team member on the KFC Japan sales team overheard the remark and used it as inspiration to launch the first Christmas campaign and its tagline\u00a0\u2014 Kentucky for Christmas.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/lifestyle\/christmas-turkey-thighs-stuffing-potatoes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><u>CHRISTMAS DINNER: TURKEY THIGHS WITH STUFFING, ROASTED POTATOES AND MORE<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>KFC Japan&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/food-drink\/kfc-sell-chicken-replica-holiday-buckets-60s-70s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">first Christmas dinner<\/a> consisted of a bucket \u2014 known as a &#8220;barrel&#8221; in Japan \u2014 of fried chicken and a bottle of wine, along with a suggestion that\u00a0the meal be enjoyed at a holiday party,\u00a0according to KFC\u2019s website.<\/p>\n<p>Since then, the annual <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/food-drink\/kfc-debuts-fried-chicken-scented-firelogs-ahead-of-christmas\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Christmas meal promotions<\/a> have expanded. Many Japanese place Christmas orders with KFC months in advance, as the lines at restaurants on the actual holiday often spill onto city streets.<\/p>\n<p>KFC Japan raked in about 7.1 billion yen in 2019 (about $53 million in current U.S. dollars), according to Shared Research.<\/p>\n<p>Many Japanese people have embraced commercial aspects of Christmas, even though only about 1% of the population is Christian. Ishii said the Japanese&#8217;s willingness to assimilate foreign festivities into their lives has driven Kentucky for Christmas\u2019 success.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I guess that we&#8217;re just happy people celebrating everything that we can,&#8221; she told Fox News.<\/p>\n<p>To learn more about how KFC established an enduring Christmas marketing campaign in Japan, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/video\/6317775748112\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><u>click here<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/food-drink\/kfc-christmas-fast-food-chain-holiday-hit-japan\">Source &#8211; https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/food-drink\/kfc-christmas-fast-food-chain-holiday-hit-japan <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kentucky Fried Chicken has become a massive hit in Japan during the Christmas season, with lines wrapping around the corner and generating enormous sales. Japanese [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_2902945987_2902945987":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[16563],"tags":[],"stock_ticker":[],"class_list":["post-51176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-market-news","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>KFC for Christmas? 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