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KFC comes to Israel – 4th time’s a charm

The fast-food chain failed during three previous attempts to establish itself in Israel over the past four decades.

By Aaron Sull, World Israel News

Israelis will get another opportunity to feast on KFC’s “finger-lickin’ good” chicken this week.

The Daliyat al-Karmel KFC branch in northern Israel will open its doors on Tuesday, followed by another branch in downtown Beer Sheba this summer, reports Israel Hayom.

This is the fourth time that KFC is attempting to enter the Israeli market. The fast-food chain failed to establish itself successfully in the 1980s, the 1990s, and between 2003 and 2012.

Even though this time around the food being served is not kosher, it seems like the company is off to a good start.

“From the moment the first restaurant opened in Nazareth, we receive many responses and questions, from tens of thousands of Israelis around Israel, asking when we would come to their area of residence. Today we are taking another significant step in expanding the chain,” Omer Zeidner, head of KFC Israel, told the news outlet.

“We promise that we will continue working around the clock in order to expand to all areas of Israel, and we will continue to provide the original taste and offer the wide variety of dishes at all the restaurant’s branches,” he said.

KFC is owned by American corporate giant Yum Brands Inc. which is traded on Nasdaq with a 2019 market cap of $17 billion. Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, it is the world’s third-largest restaurant chain after McDonald’s and Starbucks with over 45,000 outlets in over 135 countries.