Calls to boycott fast-food chain over potatoes saga fueled by ignorance

KFC restaurant delivery agent Denzel Mboya on standby to deliver KFC deliveries in the CBD. [David Gichuru, Standard]

Many years ago, when a Kenyan restaurant was listed among the world’s top 50 by Restaurant Magazine UK, I interviewed its general manager who was chuffed but not surprised because they understood their core mandate and business.

The restaurant, which started operating in Nairobi in 1980 and opened an outlet in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1993, is part of a group that was founded in 1972.

I remembered that interview early in the week when Kenyans were outraged that KFC, which came to Kenya for the second time 11 years ago, has been importing potatoes in order — to put it simply — to maintain its standards.

The general manager of that restaurant, who later became the group’s managing director, said they became “Africa’s greatest eating experience” because of their standards, which they did not lower at any time over the years.

The restaurant was the idea of the group’s chair, and since it was to be “a serious Nyama Choma restaurant”, they put emphasis on the meat starting with how it was sourced, prepared and roasted.

Thus, they did not buy meat from different vendors, but bought live animals from ranches and farmers, and followed all the public health protocols in slaughtering them and curing the meat.

To maintain the standards of the fire in the roasting pits, they bought charcoal from one community whose members they had trained and were supporting through various initiatives.

That restaurant, the Carnivore, has arguably maintained its standards to date, and that is why the old and young Kenyans troop there, and it remains on the itinerary of almost all foreign tourists visiting Nairobi.

Of course that would not be happening if they did not maintain certain standards and insist on quality products. That is why it was a bit odd, and not surprising though, that Kenyans were outraged by KFC for insisting that their potatoes meet certain standards.

Several restaurants have opened and closed since the Carnivore was opened in 1980, for several reasons, but it has stood the test of time, and I want to believe it is because of maintaining the standards of its core business as “a serious Nyama Choma restaurant” which was the vision of Martin Dunford when he mooted the idea even before Gerson Misumi, the then general manager, was hired.

What the Kenyans who were outraged were trying to understand are these standards that KFC wants and which local potatoes did not have.

It would be a lie to say that businesses worth their salt, more so those selling food, do not have set standards.

It would be foolhardy to imagine that KFC has managed to stay in business for 70 years and opened outlets in several cities worldwide, by not maintaining standards that set it apart.

It has not been a secret that KFC has been importing potatoes for the 11 years that it has been operating in Kenya. All these years, we have been munching their food, and smacking our lips and burping in satisfaction without getting concerned whether the potatoes were imported.

It is safe to say that KFC does not operate under the radar when it comes to importing potatoes and that all the relevant ministries and State agencies gave it the leeway and licence to import produce that can be procured locally.

When it mooted the idea of importing potatoes in other countries, it was stopped in its tracks through policies and not outrage and or calls for a boycott.

Those are countries in which the government protects its farmers, and support them — and this is because the people take their leaders to task.

Thus, in those countries where the leaders know the needs of their people, KFC had to give the farmers the seeds of these quality potatoes, and train them, then buy the product from them.

This is more like what the Carnivore does with the community that keeps its fire burning, literally. It gives them saplings so they can grow trees which they look after and use in making charcoal, as per Carnivore’s standards.

KFC does not break any laws by importing potatoes, for it has the requisite documents from the authorities to do so. Thus, we should direct our anger at the government for not coming up with policies that protect farmers.

Also, we should look inwards, and discover that we are hypocrites, for, our houses are filled with imported stuff, and for a start, all the tetra-packed ‘natural’ juices we drink are made from imported concentrates, but we have the guts to scream at KFC for importing potatoes because ours cannot meet its standards.

It is time to end meaningless activism without a cause because it is noise. Because it exposes our ignorance. Because it inculcates a culture of mediocrity and poverty as we encourage homegrown businesses not to have any standards, and get stuck on the roadsides they started at without spreading their wings to other markets.

It is silly — almost stupid, of us.