First 'KFC' to open in Iran shut down after just 24 hours

A KFC-branded fried chicken restaurant that opened its doors Sunday night in Iran's capital city of Tehran was shut down after just one day in operation.

The restaurant, KFC Halal, which Iranian news agency Tasnim called "the first American branch" of its kind, had set up shop in West Tehran after seemingly obtaining approval from the country's Ministry of Industry, Trade and Mines, and showed happy customers lining up for chicken on its website and Instagram page.
But by Tuesday, Iranian police had shut it down. A sign posted on its door read it was "closed until further notice." The reason given: Its decor too closely resembles the U.S. flag, and its presence "can be seen as a part of American influence into Iranian culture," the agency says. "The U.S. is one of Iran's major enemies and this will have grave dangers for the country."
"The shutting down of Halal KFC was due to a misunderstanding," the store's manager, Abbas Pazuki, reportedly said. "We are part of a brand known as Halal KFC, which comes from Turkey. It belongs to Muslims and its target market is Muslim nations," he clarified. That KFC, he says, is a "rival of the American KFC."

"We are shocked with the news that an illegitimate KFC outlet has opened in Tehran, Iran," Laurie Schalow, a KFC spokesperson, told Mashable. "No franchise rights have been granted to any party in Iran. We are in contact with local authorities and external advisers and will be filing a legal action against any company or individuals claiming to have rights to open KFC."
Ali Fazli, who is identified as Head of the Trade Chamber of Iran by the Iranian News Labor Agency, also said the KFC restaurant had "nothing to do" with its American namesake. "No Western fast food has any branches in Iran," he said.

Despite a thaw in relations during the nuclear talks, Iran's hardliners are wary of embracing any Western-style restaurants, which they say is "behavior contrary to Islamic-Iranian culture and traditions." Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, has called the establishment of such restaurants a red line that would not be crossed.

Iran's hardliners are wary of embracing any Western-style restaurants, which they say is "behavior contrary to Islamic-Iranian culture and traditions."

I agree with them, completely. I have a cultural anthropological view on this. There is no reason for a American fast food corporation restaurant to be there. And it definitely would influence their culture....big time.

Bravo for saying 'no'.

Meh...

We shouldn't be serving fried chicken to them anyway.


"Death to America! Oh look, I got a drumstick."

Another good point. WHY would any American corporation, want to be there?
And who is the a@@hole, who made this decision?
Built one some place else.

I'm am working in China and they have a KFC here in the next town... it sucks... its never the same as home...

Is it actually chicken?

KFC will sue the crap out of KFC Halal. What a bunch of idiots. What I don't understand is how it got permits and reached a level where the doors opened for business in the first place; being what country that is. Strange.

I don't know. That's a rrrrruff question.

McDonald's, is operating it's fast-food chain, in Moscow, and other locations in the former Soviet Union.

It's all about profit.

K-Mac, the parent company of kfc and taco bell, might have some 'splainin' to do... somewhere.

they claim it is.. there is no shortage of chickens running around all over the place in the villages and small town.

No shortage of the bird flu either

So....somebody ordered "extra crispy" and a suicide bomber showed up?

Actually, it isn't supposed to be the same as home. Unlike MacDonalds, KFC does market studies in areas and adjusts the recipes accordingly. I at some KFC in Thailand and it tasted like Tandoori Chicken.

A real life story...

I walked into an area kfc, ordered an 8 piece bucket, RDX and gravy, and some slaw.

Well... The counter attendant didn't "get" it... So, I repeated, verbatim, the order. Counter attendant, still didn't "get" it, and walks away.

A moment later, the manager walks up to the counter, looks at me like I'm from Mars, and proceeds to ask if he could take my order.

So, very c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y, I repeat my order. I wanna 8 piece bucket, rdx and gravy, and some semtex slaw.

Well... apparently, the manager was keen on the current story, and was not amused.

Some folks, simply have no sense of humour.

And they want $15/hr

Well that may be , But the McDonalds here is always packed ( its actually a 2 story McDonalds).. not the case with the KFC, I never have seen that packed. Seems to be the norm... in the south, anyway.

I guess Micky D's trying to get to that " Billion served" mark over here... quickly... shouldn't be a problem with the massive amount of folks.