KFC customers in the U.S. will have to order a different drink with their fried chicken, as the chain has switched its soda supplier from Pepsi to Coke for the first time in 40 years.
The change is expected to start in January, with the transition finishing at KFC’s more than 3,600 U.S. restaurants by spring 2027, the Coca-Cola Co. and KFC said.
KFC has served Pepsi products since summer 1986, when the brand was bought by PepsiCo, and continued to be served even after KFC and other brands were spun off into a separate company in 1997, today known as Yum Brands.
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Before its acquisition by PepsiCo, KFC was the second-largest soda fountain client for Coke behind only McDonald’s, according to CNBC.
The new partnership will mark the first time Coke products are available at all U.S. KFC locations, the soda company said.
In a memo to workers and franchisees, KFC U.S. President Catherine Tan-Gillespie said “a new beverage offering, with a new partner in Coca-Cola, gives us a platform to innovate, meet changing tastes and give customers more reasons to choose us,” according to CNBC.
Pepsi products are still available at KFC locations outside the U.S. as well as at fellow Yum Brands fast-food chain Taco Bell, a Pepsi spokesperson told Reuters, with the recently renewed Taco Bell agreement slated to last for 10 years.
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