Does KFC have a template for Death Care?

Alex Fasciano, an analyst for CFRA Research suggests that quick service restaurant player KFC’s (formerly Kentucky Fried Chicken) strategy is “. .centered on driving growth through brand relevance, marketing innovation, (and) operational excellence. . . .”

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It turns out that the iconic brand was losing customer count and sales to other competitors in the market.  But the new innovations that they have put in, including a new store concept, has begun increasing sales.  As I read this article from the New York Post titled, “From slump to sizzle: KFC’s recipe for a comeback” it made me think of traditional funeral homes that have lost some market share to the cremation providers.

You see, I look at traditional funeral homes as once having all of the “relevance” in terms of consumer choices for Death Care.  Back in the 1970’s, 1980, and 1990’s traditional funerals were still well over 50% of the choice of consumers and the relevance of that full-service traditional funeral home as the business that included, embalming, caskets, visitation rooms, and more was what consumers were looking for.

Eventually, the number of consumers that preferred cremation started to, and continued to rise to numbers that now reach a 60% preference point and recent surveys by the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) tell us that number could rise to a 83% preference rate within a decade or two.

The question would then be. . . .What type of “relevance” does the traditional funeral home hold for the consumers that choose cremation or direct cremation with no services?  A consumer might look at a traditional funeral home as having a lot of extra overhead for what that consumer is choosing. . . . And, a beautiful traditional funeral facility can be an asset that draws in clientele, even cremation clientele, but it can also represent to some consumers an additional overhead perception that they might not be willing to pay.

It’s interesting because that is somewhat the KFC story in the last couple of decades.  Once the staple for family meals with the red and white buckets full of fried chicken for the entire family, the chain started losing its relevance to a consumer that no longer dined with the entire family or wanted to eat full-bone fried chicken.

As a matter of fact, this article from The Street made the comment that “KFC had fallen into fifth place in terms of consumer spending, trailing behind competitors such as Popeyes, Chick-fil-A, Raising Cane’s, and Wingstop.”  In essence, the traditional KFC fell out of “relevance” with the chicken consumer.

That loss in spending at KFC was brought on in part by KFC trying to “be the same they always had been” selling family style meals and buffets while consumers started to show an affinity for chicken sandwiches that you might find at Chick-fil-A or chicken wings that you might find at any number of restaurants.

KFC finally became very bold and launched a new style of chicken restuarant, Saucy. Saucy, according to one article, “(is) trying to rejuvenate KFC by leaning into its own version of the chicken sandwich, an item that’s stoked intense rivalries among major chains, and other new innovations such as spicy wings and potato wedges, which have proven popular among new customers.” 

The effort started late in 2024 and now the Saucy locations, which are only about half the size of a typical KFC are “selling about twice as much as a typical KFC store, or roughly $2.6 million in annual sales.”  It’s been so successful that KFC is intent on fast-tracking more locations.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  So, what’s the moral of this story and its relationship to traditional funeral homes?

From my point of view, it’s all about staying “relevant” with the consumer and their needs and wishes.  Traditional funeral homes will serve about 15% of the population that want casketed burials come 15 years from now.  Yes, they can still serve cremation families — but might there be a better way to serve those cremation families and keep them in your business fold rather than have them go to an online cremation provider?

Maybe a smaller facility built exclusively for the cremation consumer might be a thought.  I’m guessing it was pretty difficult for KFC to open stores where they don’t sell the product that built the company — fried chicken.  But, it appears that coming back to “relevance” with what the consumer wants is going to pay dividends for them in the future.

Maybe the same thing could happen in Death Care.

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