Lebanese fried chicken

byHabib Battah
Sep 23, 2009

Some would have us believe there is a clash of civilizations on the horizon. Not when it comes to fried chicken.

Watch out KFC–Lebanese Fried Chicken (LFC)–is on the offensive. The Beirut-based firm is apparently going global–they’ve recently changed their name to “LFCI” or “Lebanese Fried Chicken International.”

My friends say it tastes the same, if not better than KFC–and at about half the price. (I’m trying to stop eating fried stuff, so I watched them feast.)

But there is a long road ahead for little LFC. Kentucy Fried Chicken is a huge player in the Lebanese fast food business, maintaining about a dozen massive outlets in the country of 4 million. (Their employees even have a facebook page.)

LFC will be competing, as most Lebanese restaurants do, with a ridiculously large menu:

Including value meals with hummus:

Good luck LFC!

Habib Battah

Habib Battah is an investigative journalist and founder of the news site beirutreport.com. Battah has covered Lebanon and the Middle East for over 15 years and teaches journalism and media studies at the American University of Beirut. He is a contributor to Monocle, The Guardian, BBC World, Al Jazeera and others, a former fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University and two-time recipient of the Samir Kassir Press Freedom Award. Battah's investigative work was recently recognized for outstanding local reporting by the Columbia University Oakes Award for Environmental Reporting. Battah earned a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin and an M.A. in Near East Studies and Journalism from New York University.

3 comments

angie nader says:

Sep 24, 2009 at 1:41 am

wow..thats pretty cool. good luck to them!

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Jad Aoun says:

Sep 24, 2009 at 2:23 am

Proof again that we have lost our ingenuity.

Reply
Habib Battah says:

Sep 24, 2009 at 8:37 pm

Well I was being a little sarcastic I guess, but I don’t think we’ve lost our ingenuity Jad–I have to say I’m impressed by the growth and creativity of Lebanese chains such as Casper, Roadster and Kabab Ji. Of course LFC could have chosen a better name, but if they are providing jobs (and good chicken), more power to them!

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