To share or not to share?

?

We all know the crack with LinkedIn right.. you share the moments you're proudest of, the humble brags of press coverage hero-ing your achievements.. Its the game we all play.

I'm taking a different tack today - sharing an article that when it ran in The Times last week made me feel physically sick, and then fuming with rage at its unfairness. You could say, why talk about something that's really negative? Just let it go. But I'm talking about it because I work for a business with integrity, and have done for 15 years, and I'm not going to let anyone suggest otherwise. Some of you will have seen the story last week and repeated over the weekend, suggesting that we at KFC are somehow trying to 'thwart councils' anti-obesity policies'.

Let’s start with what the article got right. We absolutely have a health crisis in this country. Obesity is a massive problem and all of us, including @KFC UK&Ireland, need to play a part in addressing it. But this was hardly a constructive contribution to the debate. Rather it repeated the hackneyed trope that hot takeaway food is the devil’s work and the cause of all of our public health woes.

Here’s the big three things that the piece gets wrong.

First, the article suggests that we’re on some kind of mission to crush local health policy. The more humdrum reality is that over the last couple of years KFC has responded to open, public consultations from a number of councils. This is absolutely standard practice. Something that is done by businesses and local residents. Following these consultations, Council policies are then reviewed by an independent inspector or by the Council themselves. This is how planning and local democracy works – everyone gets a fair say.

The idea that we have the power to force councils to ditch their health policies is literally for the birds, and would be hilarious if it wasn't so damaging. Again, any business who regularly engages with local planning will recognise this for the tosh that it is.

Second, the idea that KFC has been lobbying central Government departments to intervene in the planning process or health policy making of any council is 100% untrue. Yes the food industry has a responsibility to make sure young people can access nutritious food. When we were feeding into the Mayor’s London Plan back in 2018, we agreed that quick service restaurants should not be positioned directly by secondary schools. The issue we have quite reasonably raised is that planning rules should not mean that businesses such as ours (and many others) are not be able to open anywhere. Why should a KFC be banned within proximity of a university for example? 200m restrictions are one thing – but 400m restrictions would mean we would find it hard to open restaurants anywhere in many urban areas.

Are councils going to ban corner shops, who sell fizzy drinks, sweets and chocolate, which provide incremental calories, often to school kids, not filling, protein rich meals? Or coffee shops? What about bakeries?

All this leads to the third point. Whatever we choose to eat, quick service restaurants are a massive part of local economies. The UK high street is a shadow of its former self – and in many places across the UK, the only thing keeping it going is the power of our sector – driving footfall to high streets, creating valuable jobs with career potential and adding to the local community through food donations. I would hate to see a situation where quick service restaurants are demonised off our high streets, particularly when the same newspapers who like to attack us will happily celebrate other businesses where a meal deal or coffee and cake would have far more calories than our fillet burger (which is 450kcals, in case you're interested).

What's ultimately revealed in this article is snobbery and prejudice. And it needs calling out for what it is.

Aannnd breathe...

Ahava-Shaffra Gray-Read

Meghan Farren

Hannah Birt

Tom Newham

James Whitehorn

Kate Tipper (née Wall)

Monica Silic

Jo Tivers

Lucy Taylor

Kimberly Morgan

Dave Batchelor

Nira Johri

Matthew McCormick

Rudi Van Schoor

Ted Woodward

Revealed: KFC thwarting efforts to stop fast-food outlets near schools (thetimes.co.uk)