The Hard Way
View the case- Brand
- KFC
- Year
- 2017
- Objective
- Engagement
- Industry
- Food & Drink
- Mechanic
- Puzzle
- Platform
- AR & VR
- Agency
- Wieden+Kennedy Portland
Objective
KFC's hand-breading process for its Original Recipe chicken had barely changed in 70 years, and every one of the chain's roughly 19,000 U.S. cooks had to learn it by hand, at about 25 minutes a batch, across more than 20,500 restaurants. KFC wanted cooks to remember the process and take pride in it rather than just do it faster, so it built a VR module to run alongside its existing Chicken Mastery Certification in franchise and regional-manager training. Putting the same experience out free for the public let everyday customers see the handcrafted process KFC normally keeps behind the kitchen wall, with the Colonel himself as host.
Solution
Wearing an Oculus Rift with Touch controllers, the player finds themselves locked inside Colonel Sanders' ornate training kitchen, cuckoo clocks ticking on the walls and a framed portrait of the Colonel that talks, watches every move and heckles any mistake. Ingredients and equipment slide out through hidden panels as a robot assistant in the Colonel's string tie wanders in and out as running comic relief. Moving through five stations, the player physically inspects, rinses, breads, racks and pressure-fries a batch of chicken by hand while the Colonel narrates each step. The kitchen door only unlocks once he's satisfied with the batch, and clearing it earns the player his own Chicken Master Certification — a run of roughly 10 minutes that compresses the real 25-minute kitchen process with time-lapse.
- 1
The player wears a VR headset and finds themself locked inside Colonel Sanders' dim training kitchen, its walls lined with cuckoo clocks, knick-knacks and security cameras. A framed portrait of the Colonel speaks directly to the player, warning that he is watching and that the door stays shut until the chicken is made his way.
- 2
The Colonel's voice-over frames the goal: escape by preparing Original Recipe chicken across five stations, using hints and clues rather than direct instructions, so the player must experiment with the Touch controllers to figure out each move. Trays, tools and containers pop into the room through hidden wall panels to build the prep table.
- 3
At the first station the player picks up a raw piece of chicken and inspects it by hand, turning it over to judge its quality before it is accepted; this is the one step reviewers find unclear, requiring trial and error.
- 4
The player carries the inspected piece to the rinsing station and washes it, following the same sequence used in a real KFC kitchen.
- 5
The player then hand-coats the rinsed piece in breading, the signature move built around the Colonel's secret blend of 11 herbs and spices.
- 6
Breaded pieces are arranged onto a frying rack in the correct layout before going into the fryer.
- 7
The player loads the rack into the pressure fryer and runs the cook; the simulation compresses the wait so the run takes about ten minutes instead of the 25 minutes a real fry would need.
- 8
Throughout, dropping a piece of chicken triggers the Colonel's portrait to fire laser beams from its eyes, zapping the piece back onto the table while he needles the player with snide remarks; a robot assistant in the Colonel's string tie also turns up, part of several jokes and Easter eggs about KFC's history woven into the room.
- 9
A closing shape-matching challenge tests the player before the Colonel will sign off on the work.
- 10
The Colonel judges the player's performance: meeting his standard earns a Chicken Master Certification and opens the escape room's door, while falling short leaves the player locked inside.
