Today was an epic day in the history of Yerevan. Conveniently corresponding with 50 culture-starved volunteers descending on the capital this weekend, Armenia’s first Kentucky Fried Chicken opened, to the greasy delight of us all. I would like to point out I was just in America for 3 weeks and never once at a KFC. But here, I’m intrigued. The culture clash between efficient service/lines/customer service and the Armenian people would be great; here is my account.
First walking in it gives all the appearances of an American fast-food restaurant. Clean, polished floors, uniformly-dressed workers, and children screaming at their parents to “???????” their fries. Then we approached the counter.
In front of me was a nice Indian man with a huge order. It took him about 5 minutes to get his order complete, stating many times, “I don’t understand anything on the menu,” to the confused Armenian worker. Finally, he got his food, and simply asked for a large bag to carry all his chicken, to which the nice lady behind the counter replied with a smile, “Thank you. Welcome.”
As we approached the front of the line, the culture clash reared its ugly head as other Armenian customers began to try and cut in line from the sides. Trying to set an example, I stood behind my friends, which only prompted the Armenians to push closer toward the front. Following our failed experiment, I got my order in (a Zinger combo, with fries and a drink), which was delivered with surprising efficiency. Our only major stumbling block was that you have to pay per ketchup packet, which does not correspond well with my well-established eating habits.
The lunch was great – even the bathrooms were cleaned with automatic toilets, and had the little sheet on the door that showed it’d been cleaned every hour. Awesome! They even gave you everything as paper trash, so you got to go to one of the big trash bins with your plastic tray. As we left, they smiled and said in broken English (clearly they’d been to a basic English customer service class), “Thank You. Again Come.” I think I will.
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5 Responses:
January 20th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Pay per ketchup packet? That’s my biggest nightmare. Also I should have known that fast food in Armenia would automatically devolve into push to the front antics. They need to use those cattle-call partitions which attempt to keep people in line, except make the walking space between them super thin to the point it’s impossible to push ahead. This would be a problem in America thanks to obesity, but from my experience absolutely no one in Armenia is fat so no worries there. I’m glad the KFC is setting a good example with it’s cleanliness habits. This is the first western fast food chain to make it to Armenia, is it not? I know there’s been rumors of a Toumanian McDonald’s for literally centuries but don’t think that has come true. It’s only a matter of time now though, which makes me kind of sad because I rather liked Armenia’s isolation from that kind of thing.
January 20th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
[…] reports that Peace Corps Volunteers and other expat workers in Yerevan, the Armenian capital are delighted by the opening of the country's first ever Kenty Fried Chicken franchise. However, the blogger remarks, not everybody is happy that ketchup is sold by the sachet. Share […]
January 21st, 2008 at 7:12 pm
I wonder what the Colonel’s secret recipe is in Armenia? Do they have chicken feet on the menu over there? Something also tells me they don’t honor the new “0” trans fat recipes that are supposedly used here in the USA. I suggest they do the “take a number” method for serving. Then you don’t have to worry about standing in a line since they don’t seem to understand that you don’t cut into line. Enjoy — the ketchup is worth the splurge for the fries.
Mrs. Z
February 26th, 2008 at 11:38 pm
[…] it’s one step closer to my dream of a helicopter evac… Anyway, I guess that means no KFC for me this weekend […]
April 11th, 2008 at 6:11 pm
Wow, Western fast food finally hits Armenia! FYI, you have to pay for ketchup in most KFC’s in Europe.