While Comic Con Africa was packed full of people, figurines, cosplays, toys, celebrities and games, there’s no denying that one of the biggest sponsors of the show had quite a large presence at Nasrac this past weekend. KFC was everywhere at the venue and while the previous partnerships with Comic Con Africa were great, this year KFC outdid themselves.
A lot of KFC’s success this year attributes to the brand’s Kentucky Town store. Up to now, KFC has only hosted the Kentucky Town a handful of times. There’s been a Rosebank, Johannesburg version and one in Cape Town. The pop-up store welcomes hungry fans to try out unique menu items that are created only for the venue. This means you can’t go in there and order your usual Zinger Boxmaster but you can get the Gatsby and other over-the-top food items.
MORE COMIC CON AFRICA – Local Artists at Comic Con Africa 2022 That Impressed Us
At Comic Con Africa this year, KFC decided that instead of dropping some random people into the venue to show you around as the brand did back in 2019, they would host a geek-themed Kentucky Town, sell cool branded merch and signature sauces and even offer tattoos. Of course, I need to address some concerns surrounding these tattoos because it was pretty random. There were even rumblings at the venue from tattoo artists who criticized the lack of hygienic practices at the KFC tattoo booth. KFC would be the last place I would ever get a tattoo but I hope the brand didn’t break any health regulations with its impromptu tattoo parlour.
After publishing the article I was in contact with the agency that handled the KFC stall at CCA this year. They assured me that all the correct health protocols were followed during the event. The tattoos were organized in partnership with Mustang Sally – a well-established studio in Cape Town and Johannesburg. You can check them out here.
While I would never get a tattoo at KFC, I did end up getting a lot of food. I had four days to try out everything and I did. I have also been dying to purchase some of the sauces and it was legit the first place I ran to on Thursday where I picked up six bottles of KFC sauce. I got two Zinger bottles, two Dunked Wing sauce and the oh-so-good Colonel Dressing.
You can’t go wrong with these sauces for only R50 a bottle. I mean have you seen the price of Nando’s Perinaise these days? A 265g bottle sets you back R45 and considering the KFC sauces come in 540g for R50 and are 100% authentic to the fast food restaurants, it is a bargain. The bummer is you can only purchase these sauces when there’s a Kentucky Town… in Town.
But the real show stealer of Comic Con Africa, besides the cheap sauces, was the limited menu the brand was selling in the food court and boy did it draw in the crowds. Now usually these pop-up food things are pretty meh when it comes to what’s on offer. The stuff is slapped together in a hurry, overpriced and tasteless but the Kentucky Town at Comic Con Africa absolutely blew me away.
Sure, some menu items weren’t as great as others. The One Ring selection was just a bunch of ringed chicken nuggets without much flavour but that was the only thing I was disappointed in. Everything else was amazing. I was at Comic Con Africa for four days and I consumed eight burgers and I am not even going to be ashamed about it. Every day I ordered the Blaze Burger which was this delicious red-bunned burger dressed with Colonel Mayonaise, dripping in a ghost pepper sauce and topped with a slice of cheese.
I also loved the Doom Burger which was a black-bunned burger with a zinger dunked sauce fillet. It also had cheese and mayo and it also had fresh lettuce. Like I know I am going on about these burgers a lot but they were really good. So good that I tried to eat one of each every day. So good that I always took extra serviettes with me because I would ugly eat them and I couldn’t care less what people thought about me (I am speaking to you random dude in the media room that judged me as I devoured the two burgers on the Thursday and had sauce running down my chin).
I also enjoyed the Yum Yum It Is milkshake which was designed to look like The Child from The Mandolorian series. I wasn’t a fan of The Cake is a Lie milkshake mainly because I am not a chocolate fan. I also tried that strange creation called The Op Donut Zinger Burger. While it should never work, it does and the sweet and spicy mixture of the zinger fillet and the glazed doughnuts are actually quite enjoyable.
I also need to compliment KFC on the tremendous service during Comic Con Africa. On the Saturday when things were so busy you could not breathe in the venue, that food store was pumping out orders faster than you could say “please make the Zinger Boxers into shorts”. I know the limited menu helps speed up the service but honestly, when do you actually go to a KFC anywhere in SA and actually get your food within 5 minutes? There’s always a Zinger fillet that needs to be fried or some chicken drumstick that is still in the oil. Don’t tell me you haven’t been greeted by the dreadful “please wait in that parking space while we prepare your meal and we’ll bring it to you”.
KFC also managed to keep everything in stock at all times. Wait, the sauces ran out on Sunday but the hot food was always available and they must have made a killing. The brand also hosted some cool activations during the show like a zinger wing challenge that tied in a racing game and the opportunity to win an Xbox Series X. KFC, you did good. On Monday I actually wandered around my house at lunchtime thinking “what do I eat in my life now? I miss the Blaze burgers. Is there any point in eating now?”
Make sure you follow KFC on Twitter for more great food.
