Court: KFC franchisee can’t market chicken as halal

A federal judge sided with the KFC Corporation in a dispute with a franchisee regarding whether he could market chicken sold at his restaurants as halal.

Roy Graber Headshot
(Yum! Brands)
(Yum! Brands)

A federal judge sided with the KFC Corporation in a dispute with a franchisee regarding whether he could market chicken sold at his restaurants as halal.

Afzal Lokhandwala, a KFC franchisee who owns and operates eight restaurants in northern Illinois, filed a lawsuit against the corporation after it ordered him to stop advertising that halal chicken products were sold there. It was not a matter of whether the chicken sold there was actually halal certified, but rather because a corporate policy forbids franchisees to make religious dietary claims.

Lokhandwala, a Muslim, opened his first KFC franchise in 2002 and expanded his operations to include eight restaurants in 2012. With his restaurants in areas with a large population of Muslim residents, Lokhandwala identified an opportunity to sell halal-certified chicken.

According to a court document, Lokhandwala discussed selling halal chicken products with KFC Franchise Director Ken Taft, who had told the plaintiff that he would approve the use of halal chicken. The document further stated that Taft helped Lokhandwala find a halal-certified and KFC-approved poultry processor.

The court document revealed that about 75 percent of the chicken sold at Lokhandwala’s restaurants had the needed halal certification, and that the other 25 percent was kept separate and not marketed as halal.

Policy barring marketing of halal products

In late 2016 or early 2017, according to the court document, KFC Corporation advised Lokhandwala to stop marketing his products as halal, citing the policy concerning religious dietary claims. That policy was reportedly implemented in 2009.

The company, according to the document, had made that policy for two reasons:

  1. Consumers have different interpretations of what satisfies processing requirements, and
  2. The possibility that the halal and non-halal products could be cross-contaminated by restaurant staff

The ruling was made by Judge John Robert Blakey in the United States District Court for the Nothern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.

Page 1 of 33
Next Page