Vegan customer ‘humiliated’ by KFC staff after being served chicken burger

‘I was speechless and can’t express how disgusting their customer service was,’ mother says

A vegan mum has said she felt “humiliated” and “traumatised” after KFC served her a chicken burger before laughing at her for eating it.

When Vanessa Franco ventured to a KFC in Colliers Wood, London, she ordered the fast food restaurant’s recently launched vegan burger at the drive-thru.

After three bites, she could tell that there was something wrong with the burger and complained to the restaurant’s staff.

According to Ms Franco, they laughed when they confirmed that the burger was in fact made of chicken.

“I realised the texture tasted different. I drove back to KFC and asked them to confirm it was a vegan burger. That’s when the girl who served me told me it was a chicken fillet burger,” said Ms Franco, who recently became vegan after following a vegetarian diet her entire life.

“She then called her colleague who told me to come inside. She also said if I took bites out of it then why didn’t I notice it was a chicken burger. I explained I have been a vegetarian my whole life.”

Ms Franco, from Pollards Hill in London, initially requested that she speak with the KFC staff in the drive-thru as her baby was asleep in the back seat of the car.

However, the staff insisted that she come inside, resulting in her having to wake up her child.

When the branch’s manager came out, he handed Ms Franco the vegan replacement burger, which she said wasn’t adequately cooked.

“That’s when he gave me a vegan burger, didn’t apologise and laughed and said, ‘You should have known it was chicken’,” the mother said.

“All of the staff stood there staring at me. I felt humiliated and have been left traumatised due to not only a lifestyle choice but also a religion being broken and made fun of.

“I was speechless and can’t express how disgusting their customer service was.”

KFC issued an apology. “This isn’t great and we’re really sorry for what happened here,” a spokesperson said.

“Our vegan burger launched last month and we took its arrival seriously — putting strict new processes in place to make sure it’s served properly, including the use of separate coloured tongs and storage units.”

The spokesperson added that the firm is going to be following up with the Colliers Wood team “to remind them of the importance of getting this right”.

They added that Ms Franco is being offered “a free meal on us to put things right”.