Kentucky Fried Rumors

On 1/04/2006 , I posted about Pizza Hut coming soon to a Kiev near me. At the time I neglected to mention the depths of the hopes that this gestated within me. Pizza Hut is owned my an Umbrella Corporation call Yum! Brands. Yum brands has a number of restaurant names to its credit, such as Taco Bell, Long John Silvers, A&W, Pizza Hut (as mentioned) and KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken). Knowing this, and knowing that both Pizza Hut and KFC can be found in most if not all EU Countries, including neighboring Hungary and Poland, I was hopeful that KFC would soon be a present reality in Kiev and a distant dream no more. Last Wednesday, my wife and I were eating at a local fast food restaurant called Rostiks. Rostik's is a fried chicken place that does a fine job at chicken (it even has a decent ranch sauce, which is pretty miraculous for Kiev). Being reasonably/competitevly priced, Rostik's has grabbed a respectable amount of the fast food market which is currently dominated in Ukraine by McDonalds. A friend of ours is a manager a Rostik's. She informed us that Rostik's has been hiring up experienced McDonalds employees at a premium recently. Why? Because apparently KFC is moving into Kiev, in partnership with Rostik's. For a time the chain will be co-branded. Rostik's KFC. This will eventually be phased out. However, the soon and coming presence of KFC will herald a swift end to the familiar menu at Rostik's as we were informed that they will only be selling KFC menu items. God is Good!!! I will continue to hope and pray that is grace extends to Taco Bell and A&W which at this point have no presence in Europe. One of my minor fears however is that the coming of In & Out Burger will be simultaneous with the Return of Our Lord, and I will miss the opportunity to eat a Double, Double in Kiev!