Fast food giant KFC has been forced to put cabbage in its burgers and wraps in Australia as the country is struggling with a shortage of lettuce. The firm told customers it is using a mixture of lettuce and cabbage after floods destroyed lettuce crops. It comes as shoppers in Australia have been hit with soaring prices for some fresh fruits and vegetables. What are your thoughts LiveTribers, why has KFC Australian been forced to swap lettuce for cabbage?
Posted by on 27 Jul 2022
I don't think it would be cabbage as we know it, it would have to be flavoured up a bit to be good on a kfc burger. Coleslaw is cabbage flavoured up ain't it ?
Cabbage has more nutrients than lettuce, so seems a win for the consumer.
Strange, cabbage and lettuce seem to be a similar price so I don't see much cost saving. Coleslaw in chicken burgers is amazing so I say just embrace it. Better than no salad in your burger!
Cost issue - not really a major issue. At least they are still including something healthy
They are not the only store to have to do this. I haven't really been able to notice the difference much.
The prices come down a little bit so you can find lettuce again.
i love KFC burgers and most other items on their list. Swapping cabbage for lettuce will only be a temporary thing. Unless KFC want to increase their prices, we will just have to accept it for now.
I haven't heard about this but don't care about it either as I don't like their greasy, salty chicken which, more often than not, is not cooked properly ahd they usually stuff up orders. Worst stuff up was neglecting to put a breast fillet in a fillet burger AND shorting a few other items in the order.
I don't know why you would lie to me....they have been "forced" to use cabbage because of either shortages of lettuce or more likely the high price of the lettuce they buy
I understand the need, but I would prefer they just use less lettuce instead of adding cabbage as it really changes the taste.
Inflation is being hard to live nowadays. Every products have been shortage and being forced to be change.
Rising costs makes it not worth it
I like cabbage
Purchased a meal from Subway & found they had also replaced lettuce with shredded cabbage.
Yes, at our local subway too
Demand and supply in action. Breath and keep calm.
That’s most interesting, I think it’s still ok in Perth, otherwise, sort of like coleslaw
They are not the only food retailers having same or similar practice. Who can survive for giving lettuces when they are $6 per head? Cabbages are neither cheap but at least not blood bleeding to businesses and individuals as everyday meal. I have seen some food and beverage merchants put white raddish (cut to extremely thin) to replace any vegetable. I have seen business put TWO LEAVES of vegetables in a big bowl of noodle soup or just sprouts.
They are higher in price than that on the Gold Coast and none looked all that healthy either. Things hopefully will improve when crop yields improve once more.
I think it is great that they are swapping the lettuce for cabbage. Many of us adjust our shopping habits to suit what is on special or for things that are too expensive and it's good to see a big company being innovative instead of raising prices and making treats unaffordable for some consumers. Well done KFC!
Doesn't worry me at all, I'm growing lettuce in my vegie garden all year long, easy to replace cabbage
I don't mind this - if there is a shortage and therefore a very high price it makes sense to make an adjustment if possible. In this case swapping in a bit of cabbage does not really change the product or flavour so all is good. Subway have also gone down this road.
I think as long as it keeps a similar flavour, why not? A bit sad that suck a profitable company can't deal with an intermittent price increase.
Easier to maintain cabbage than lettuce…just recycle from one day to the next …not as much waste…therefore cost savings all round glad I do not it KFC,…!!
I LIKE CABBAGE AS A SALAD SO GOOD WITH ME
It is ok with me as long as it is fresh
I highly suggest to stay well clear of any chicken burger from KFC.
Cost of Lettuce has skyrocket , I guess to avoid big burger price increase they changed to Cabbage
I suppose currently there is more supply of cabbage than lettuce.
i dont mind it and hope they keep it this way
Confused, it's actually $18 for a cabbage in some places right now, so I guess they can't get anything else. Supply of lettuce is out so that seams the best choice. Anyway cabbage is better for you because lettuce is just a celluloid plant with very little health benifits to it. If a rabbit was fed on purely lettuce, it would die!
Honestly they would’ve been better off putting the cheap salad mix from coles or Woolies rather than mix lettuce and cabbage together it’s horrible
For most people it wouldn’t matter cabbage in stead of lettuce so if it helps then fine. Personally fast food is bad so I won’t eat it anyway . I’m vegan .
I dont eat KFC so doesn`t worry me.
as I do not eat lettuce or cabbage and would ask for it not to be on a burger but still get charged the same price I think this is all about profits not about anything else and I would suggest the amount on a burger would be insignificant compared to the cost of the burger.
KFC burgers or any fast food burgers definitely do not taste the same with any other substitute. Let's face it, everything has gone up in price, it's inevitable. And yes we don't want to see another price hike especially when it involves our favourite takeway restaurants. I personally would prefer to pay an extra $1 or $2 just to keep my burgers/wraps tasting the same. (ok I don't have children any more and totally appreciate those families that couldn't afford it) But I say let's think about our poor Austealian farmers in NSW and Queensland who lost the majority of their crops due to bushfire and flood's, possibly as a result of global climate change. The Russian Ukraine War has pushed up our fertiliser prices and transport costs which have risen dramatically. especially the trucking industry which are sensitive to diesel prices, pushed so high by this continuing War ( And don't we all know that! ) Let's pay the price and bring our favourite's back, support our farmers, workers and our favourite's AND "lettuces" bring our lettuce
I actually prefer cabbage on warm burgers as is remains more crisp than lettuce... which goes limp and soggy when exposed to heat.
If they used only lettuce (provided they can source it), their increased costs would need to be passed on to the consumer. If your burger increased in price to a considerable degree, the chances are you would stop buying them. They are doing the realistic thing by looking at alternatives to increasing prices to enable retaining their customer base....common business sense really
I would rather spinach leaves on my burger instead of cabbage. Also diced celery and radish in the mix would add some crunch.
KFC are not the only ones doing it now either.. I think hungry jacks are doing it now too due to the rising cost of lettuce. Personally, I don't think its very appetizing.
Lettuce is just too expensive at the moment and they need to make a profit so that is why they use cabbage instead
I guess they had no choice with the cost off lettuce in some states as high as $10 it was either swap lettuce for some other similar vegetable or put the price of their burgers up.
Lettuce is more expensive than cabbage and this impacts profits. Fast food companies want to make a profit and will substitute cheaper items for more expensive ones whenever they can.
supply and demand
too reduce costs. Not sure how I feel about it as I haven't had it yet.
I’ve heard it’s not very appetising, I don’t think cabbage substitutes lettuce
Even with the shortage of lettuce, it would mean that their prices would also have to be risen, so they may be trying to keep their prices as low as they can, otherwise they would have to put the prices of their food up considerably, and this could also mean the loss of customers and revenie
I’m assuming it’s because of a lettuce shortage due to the floods destroying the crops, but I actually enjoy cabbage in burgers and wraps as it gives them crunch and texture.
It's all about reducing their costs I guess, but actually I don't mind the taste
i didnt even know about this.
Lettuce becomes too soggy if they don't make the Burger fresh
they are not force, they know is more convenient for their business.
KFC doesn't want to increase pricing if they will continue to use lettuce.
Cabbage is a good substitute because it adds texture. It's also great on kebabs. I'm not so convinced about the "lettuce shortage" though, as I think it's a way of increasing the price of yet another product.
KFC make enough profit on their food, so not forced to swap cabbage for lettuce they chose to. If they made it into a coleslaw it would be great, but then I guess they would say the carrots are too expensive. Just cut down on the amount of lettuce used on burgers will fix the issue.
I think replacing cabbage with lettuce its just a big [ because of shortness of lettuce] its just a lie why? lettuce are mostly grown on hydroponic rows inside a shed so there is not excuse that is because of floods!
Oh I hope not because that sounds ghastly. Cabbage is nothing like lettuce.
They aren't the only fast food place to be using cabbage instead of lettuce...and persoanlly it tastes foul - the cabbage I mean, although the same could be said for some of the fast foods as well. I'm tired o hearing this weak excuse about high prices for lettuce, and the shortage because of floods, rail line closures etc., from all companies dealing with food, supermarkets included.....The floods in Qld etc., should not have had any impact on lettuce, as they aren't the only states that grow that product, or supply it either, and from what I know, eash state has it's own supply chain and also grow these types of veges and export to other states as well,....so why are they all gouging and substituting ? This countyr is just like the USA, gotten greedy, full of any excuse to rip the consumer off - more !!! I'm wondering when these Fast food companies will up the prices again and use Covid as the next excuse ??
Kfc is just price gouging they have already raised food prices and cabbage is no substitute for lettuce and as they get directly from growers they are not experiencing the rises we see as customers in the supermarkets.
cabbage is healthy and good for you...it should never be used in a KFC product
Trying to ensure a continuity in supply despite the very, very wet winter weather.
KFC should not be using cabbage for its lettuce substitute. They can certainly put the prices up on the burgers to cover costs.
The stupid greens have screamed murder of frogs to stop dams being built even though frogs can swim!
yeah exactly!
Given that Iceberg lettuce is about 95precent water and buggerall anything else cabbage is probably better for you. No Amercian based fast food behemoth will ever do anything for good nutrition.....its ALWAYS about the bottom line.....!!!
They haven't been forced to, they made the decision themselves to do it. To give cabbage and charge an arm and a leg for it. Subway was the second place to do this but I can understand them doing it because Subway do use a lot of lettuce. As for KFC, they hardly use any lettuce so for them to make this decision is really quite ridiculous . The amount of lettuce on a chicken burger you get the smallest amount anyway. I don't know in the wraps as I've never had one but I don't think it would be a be all end all amount. KFC have no right to cut corners on anything because of the price of their items. There is the shortage due to floods but everywhere else seems to have it so cannot understand KFC's mentality here. Even Albo said that it is "crazy" and "just wrong".
well said
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