Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 21, 1993                   TAG: 9307210106
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

FEATHERS FLY AS CHICKEN MOVES UP IN PECKING ORDER

Consumers had barely digested Chick-fil-A's March introduction of "lites," and now it's adding a "chargrilled" chicken club sandwich. KFC this week started to serve roast chicken in addition to its traditional fried variety, while McDonald's is testing fried chicken in some markets, including eastern Virginia.

That's not to overlook Hardee's constant crowing that it's beating the wings off KFC. Or Kenny Rogers' Roasters' recently opening a second Roanoke Valley location. Or the sign that never changes on the Super Save grocery in Southeast Roanoke, saying it sells "the best fried chicken in Roanoke."

To get a perspective on just how large the chicken business is, consider that 1,357,000 chickens were scheduled to be slaughtered last Wednesday in Virginia alone. The Roanoke Valley KFCs aren't even buying Virginia chickens; theirs come from North Carolina, said John Wood.

Wood is area manager for JRN Inc. of Columbia, Tenn., which owns 88 KFCs, including those in Western Virginia. Monday, he hauled roast chickens around town to news offices and to some celebrities, including former Roanoke Mayor Noel Taylor, to promote the new dish.

KFC is spending $100 million to introduce Colonel's Rotisserie Gold chicken nationally. It projects first-year retail sales of up to $700 million, which is about what KFC says the non-fried quick-service restaurant-chicken market is now worth.

That means the company hopes to double the market.

KFC, based in Louisville, Ky., already claims a 50 percent share of total U.S. fast-food chicken sales of $7 billion. And Wood says his KFCs are No. 1 in the Roanoke Valley based on the number of "heads" it buys. "Heads" is the way chicken sellers count chickens.

The McDonald's chicken test is being conducted in the Tidewater area, and there's no guarantee it will be added to the burger seller's menus everywhere. However, the company has gone to considerable effort to put the word out, sending promotional materials to areas not in the test group.

The golden arch "M" even spouted wings. And while KFC has its "colonel," McDonalds has its "spokesmamas," three women who are seen in the company's commercials for the new product.

Other test markets include 30 to 40 McDonald's in the New York City area and 10 to 15 in the Cleveland area.

McDonald's tested fried chicken nationwide about 15 years ago but never made it a permanent menu item.

Spokesmen at McDonald's corporate headquarters in Oak Brook, Ill., don't say why McDonald's is trying the fried chicken route again, but the answer is probably obvious. The QSR (quick service restaurant) competition is heated, and customers aren't as in love with hamburgers as they used to be.

Chick-fil-A's new poultry entry is a club sandwich that includes bacon, American cheese and Dijon honey mustard sauce. The company also added a $1.99 kids' meal that includes fries, a soft drink and a toy.

\ A July 7 Marketplace column incorrectly reported that the largest segment of Virginians playing the lottery are those with annual incomes of less than $15,000. Only 19 percent of the lottery players are from that segment, which represents 25 percent of the state's adult population.

In fact, the largest group of players are those in the $35,000-to-$50,000 group, which accounts for 22 percent of all players and 19 percent of adult Virginians.

However, the below-$15,000 group is the largest Instant Lottery play group, representing 25 percent of the players.

Kenneth Thorson, director of the Virginia Lottery, also thought the lottery statistics should have pointed out that while the largest segment of players are those with just a high school diploma, most players are high school graduates or beyond. For example, 22 percent have one to three years of college; 11 percent are college graduates and 6 percent have post-graduate credits.

While the odds of winning the jackpot may be 1 in 12 million in some states, the odds are 1 in 7.1 million in Virginia, he said.

\ How come the sewing machine store that keeps advertising "Wife Wanted" doesn't realize its ad eliminates about half of the female population in the Roanoke Valley.

The metro area has about 224,000 people as of 1990, of whom about 98,000 are women. And of those, 50,000 are married. That means about 48,000 women aren't, and may not want to be, wives.