This story that ran on Oprah Winfrey spread like wildfire through my office last week: you could get a free 2-piece grilled chicken meal at KFC just by printing out their coupon from the website. Sounded too good to be true! Turned out it was! The first day the special ran, they exhausted their supply of chicken and extended the offer until May 19th (minus Mother's Day). Although some were copying the coupon, I had printed mine at home from my computer. Tonight I took it in to my local KFC to redeem it, as I was "batching it" for dinner. There was a sign on the door that they were giving "rain checks" for the meal, in return for filling out a form with my address. I asked the high schooler behind the counter if they had grilled chicken available for sale tonight. "Yeah," he told me. "Well, why can't I get a meal tonight if you have the chicken now?" "Because we could run out of the chicken and we need you to fill out this form and we'll mail you back a rain check." It sounded utterly ridiculous to me, but I didn't want to argue with this poor kid. He was just doing his job.

If the Colonel had decided to invite company over for dinner, don't you think he would have first ensured he had enough chicken on hand? I looked over their website and they look like such a nice company, committed to doing so much good for the world, yet they can't fulfill their basic mission: To feed their customers? It will be interesting to see if Oprah has anything to say about this hoo-ha. Me? I ended up going to "El Pollo Loco" where I think the chicken is better anyway!

Ell Pollo Loco has chicken soup on their menu that is unrivaled--a well-flavored broth with large chunks of chicken, they provide a small container of chopped cilantro, queso fresco, and tortilla strips if you like.  Very good for the soul if you're a little under the weather and/or feeling a little wounded by your treatment at KFC!!  In fact, if you're striving to eat healthy, this is the place to go--freshly grilled chicken all day long, nice little salads, or you can get the old standbys if you prefer, for not too much dinero.