Founded Louisiana in 1989, the Krispy Krunchy Chicken (KKC) uses the motto 'Freshly Made, Perfectly…read moreCajun' to emphasize their cajun flavors and never-frozen made-on-site fried chicken. With 3,500 locations across the country (mostly in gas stations, convenience stores, and travel centers), I have to guess that I've eaten their products at some point in the past, but I just don't remember. This location, inside of a Shell gas station just on the outskirts of Cambodia Town, was a good opportunity to try it for a take-home lunch on a Sunday. Our family of three found the chicken to be quite good, with delicious biscuits, very good potato wedges, and OK mashed potatoes and rice and beans, at value prices.
KKC operates as a food service partner, not a royalty or franchisee model, providing product, equipment, and graphics to individual stores for a charge. They also then take a percentage of the store chicken sales. This would seem to make them competitors of large convenience stores that have hot food sales, along with stand-alone chicken chains like KFC and Popeyes and the popular Louisiana Famous Fried Chicken (LFFC) popular around here. Guessing most people would not consider getting fried chicken as an impulse buy while paying for gas, but with most gas-buying consumers never even entering the store, this would seem like an opportunity to use already existing real estate to good use. Also, since most people would do carry out, one doesn't need dine-in space and all the manpower that it entails. For this store, my guess is that there were only two people: front of store and one manning the kitchen in the back. And because employees are usually family in a place like this, they take better care in preparing the food than a typical wage worker
The first thing you notice when you walk in is the rows of fried chicken, neatly displayed close to the front, so one can see the nooks and cranny of it all. This can turn out bad (e.g. the chicken at a grocery deli, all jumbled together with the breading coming off), but in this case, I knew the chicken was going to be good. Is is goofy to say that the chicken was beautifully displayed?
I ordered the Chicken Family Meal ($28.79 for 12 pc, 6 biscuits, and family size of potato wedges). Added a regular side of Red Beans & Rice ($2.99) and mashed potatoes ($2.99), both of which were pre-packaged. They have jambalaya on the menu, but the attendant told me it was only available on weekdays. Payment was via the same POS used for gas or beverage purchases (not sure what the credit card company would categorize the purchase to be, though would guess a retail convenience store purchase instead of a fast food restaurant one). We quickly brought it home, and we agreed that the chicken was very good when eaten fresh. They were huge pieces, the wings being as big as the size of Wingstops, and bigger than any of their fried chicken competitors. This would comfortably feed a family of 5 or 6.
There wasn't as much Cajun flavor as what is found at Popeyes. The Jojo potatoes were also giant in size, batter coated in cajun seasoning, and deep fried well. The red beans and rice and mashed potatoes were not as good, probably the same quality as what one would find in a grocery store deli. The biscuits were some of the moistest biscuits, pretty much disintegrating as you ate them. The extra honey given was not needed, as each had plenty on top.
There are a lot of value fried chicken places in the area, and KKC is as good as any, with great value.