KFC creates 50 finger lickin’ jobs at Manchester Airport

KFC has joined the jet set and chosen Manchester to open its first UK airport restaurant.

KFC and HMSHost International, a world leader in operating food and beverage concessions in airports, opened its very first airport restaurant – and is now serving up delicious finger lickin’ chicken in the departures lounge of Manchester Airport’s Terminal Three – creating 50 new jobs for local people.

KFC will be serving its breakfast menu until 10am which includes the Chicken AM – crispy original recipe fillet, free range egg, bacon and cheese, topped off with a hash brown and coffee – guaranteed to start your holiday off with a zing!  The full menu is also available – from 4am until last flight . Along with original recipe chicken, customers can also try some of the latest menu additions.

KFC creates 50 jobs at Manchester Airport

Walter Seib, CEO of HMSHost International, said:  

“This agreement with KFC marks a significant milestone in our strategy to increase our footprint in the rapidly expanding and dynamic UK marketplace through a strong international brand.

“We’re delighted to open this popular concept as part of the ongoing development of Terminal Three.”

Stephen Turner, Commercial Director at Manchester Airport, said:

“We are delighted to launch the first ever KFC airside at a UK airport and I am sure the outlet will be incredibly popular with our passengers in Terminal Three. The well-known iconic brand will offer passengers something different, and complements the other food and beverage offering within the terminal.”

HMSHost is a world leader in operating food and drink concessions in airports and already operates four other stores in Manchester Terminal Three, which sees over 8.5 million passengers through its gates each year. 

KFC, the world’s largest chain of chicken-based quick service restaurants, grew from the chicken business set up by Colonel Harland D Sanders in the 1950s. The Colonel had found a way to combine 11 herbs and spices with flour to create a unique taste, and to this day the secret recipe is only known to a handful of people. It is locked away in a vault in Louisville, Kentucky.

KFC came to Britain in 1965, with the first store opening in Preston, Lancashire, and there are now over 890 stores across the UK, with over 24,000 employees.

KFC was voted Britain’s Top Employer in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015, becoming the first company to win the award for four consecutive years, and the company has been named as a Great Place to Work for the last four years. The company places a big importance on developing people, and became the first restaurant company in the UK to launch an honours degree – a BA (Hons) Business Management course in conjunction with De Montfort University, Leicester. KFC also works with City & Guilds to provide Level 2 and Level 3 Apprenticeships to team members and team leaders. 

Manchester’s long-haul catchment area places around 22 million people and 60% of all UK businesses within a two-hour drive time – it extends north through the Lake District into Scotland; east across Yorkshire and the North East; south to Birmingham and the Midlands; and west into Merseyside and Wales.

MAG serves more than 57.3 million passengers and handles almost half a million tonnes of air freight every year through its ownership and operation of the airports of London Stansted, Manchester, East Midlands and Bournemouth airports.