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‘Fried dining’ – KFC Alice Springs franchisee’s Michelin star quest

Nick Hall

A KFC franchisee in remote Australia has embarked on a bizarre quest to have his restaurant awarded a Michelin star. KFC Alice Springs owner Sam Edelman believes his rural outlet meets the criteria for the culinary ranking guide.

According to the official guidelines of the ranking system, restaurants must be deemed “worth a stop”, “worth a detour” or “worth a special journey”.

Edelman’s Alice Spring’s outlet is more than 600kms from the next closet KFC restaurant, making it one of the country’s most remote franchise chains.

Interest heated up last week when the franchisee launched the Facebook group “Kentucky Fried Chicken deserves a Michelin Star”, posting “technically we meet the criteria… so let’s just see how we go!”

The campaign has caught the eye of both media outlets and the public, with a video of Edelman on Nine’s Today program attracting more than 300,000 views.

As support for the award gathers traction, the biggest development came on Thursday, when Edelman revealed KFC was flying him to the home of Michelin.

“This has gone so crazy that KFC is going to fly me to Paris. I’m going to knock on Michelin’s door and hopefully they’ll give me a star or hopefully not punch me,” the franchisee said on KIIS’ Kyle and Jackie O show.

The KFC Alice Springs franchisee is a passionate advocate for the fried chicken brand. According to news.com.au, Edelman has spent more than 20 years behind the fryer, starting out as line cook before making the move to franchisee seven years ago.

“I can’t comment for other franchises but I have staff that take a lot of pride in what they do,” he told News.com.au. “I do as well, and I think every franchisee in Australia does that too, but I have that unique location geographically.”

While Edelman’s approach is admirable, the KFC Alice Springs franchisee faces an uphill battle getting his restaurant recognised.

At present Michelin does not publish a guide in Australia and does not include Australian restaurants in its rating system.