KFC's Ridiculously Small Fried Chicken Is Being Roasted On Reddit

A grievance posted to Reddit has KFC customers debating whether some of its stores are skimping on the size of its fried chicken. The user shares a photo of a diminutive drumstick plucked from a KFC box and poses the question, "Is it just me or has KFC chicken pieces become ridiculously small?"

A number of fellow Redditors agreed with the observation based on their own experiences. "Yep their chickens are getting really small," stated one commenter. They elaborated that while it used to only take two pieces of chicken for them to feel full, now it requires eating four or five. Another contributor joked about the mini drumstick, "They shouldn't let their chickens skip leg day." A further user quipped, "the tagline 'finger lickin' good' is a foreshadowing of the size of the chicken pieces." 

Perhaps they are onto something. After all, fast food chains are seeking out smaller chickens because they are better suited for the chicken sandwiches that have become so popular since the advent of the chicken wars in 2019. Though this is surprising considering the U.S. chicken industry today.

In America, it is actually harder to track down smaller chickens because it has become more cost-effective for the chicken industry to grow bigger ones. Fast food companies that specialize in chicken sandwiches, such as Chick-fil-A and Popeyes, would rather use smaller chickens, contending that they are of superior taste and quality than larger poultry (via Yahoo!). It is also less labor-intensive to carve up a tinier bird. But, the supply of smaller chickens hasn't always met demand, as Popeyes discovered in 2020 when it ran out of munitions to fight in the chicken wars (per The Los Angeles Times).

According to The Poultry Site, these heftier chickens commonly raised in America are called broilers, which are specifically bred to emphasize meat quantity and rapid growth, reducing expenses for the chicken industry and leading to a more affordable product on the consumer's end. Meanwhile, Redditors are wondering where all the large KFC fried chicken went. "I swear I've eaten KFC at least five times in the past few months at different branches and they all look like this," uttered an exasperated commenter. "The wings are even worse." It looks like there is no love for Chicken Little.