KFC Drags Competitor to Federal Court for Using the Words 'Original Recipe' in Ad Campaign

KFC is dragging one of its competitors in the fried chicken space to court after Church's Texas Chicken used the words "original recipe" in an ad.

"Original recipe" has been trademarked by KFC since 1984. Because of this, the chicken chain is claiming that using the terminology in the ad for Church's could be misleading to customers, according to the lawsuit, as reported by Nation's Restaurant News.

In Church's advertisement that began circulating in October, the company announced "the return of its original recipe," which had previously been let go by the company in an effort to save money, as reported by Restaurant Business.

The phrase was reportedly seen in advertisements on Church's website, social media and physical hanging posters. KFC sent a letter to the chicken joint last month, but has so far not received a response, according to the lawsuit.

For violation of the trademark, KFC is asking the court to order Church's "to account for and pay over to KFC three times the profits realized by Defendant from its acts of willful trademark infringement and dilution of the KFC Marks," the lawsuit stated, as reported by Restaurant Dive.

There are 901 Church's locations across the country as of 2023, a franchise disclosure agreement obtained by Restaurant Dive stated. KFC has more than 24,000 restaurants around the world.