Oprah And The Colonel Want To Buy You Lunch

Oprah has teamed up with Colonel Sanders!

That’s right, The Oprah Winfrey Show and Kentucky Fried Chicken have partnered to promote KFC’s new Kentucky Grilled Chicken.

I visited Oprah.com and under Hot Topics I found details about The Oprah Winfrey Show/Kentucky Grilled Chicken Two-Piece Meal Coupon.

Photo by nayrb7, courtesy of flickr

The offer expires tonight at 11 PM CT.

So what does this have to do with investing? Well, I think this is a good example of diversification.

As its name proclaims, KFC has been in the fried chicken business forever. The restaurant could use some diversity on its menu.

KFC has gone to great lengths to promote this new secret recipe. The company declared April 27 “UNFry Day” and offered a “free taste” of chicken nationwide.

Today, KFC also announced that if you “Show the Colonel your Mom-themed tattoo” then ”KFC will show you the chicken.” The promotion which runs today through Mother’s Day, offers gift cash to patrons who submit photos of their tattoos via e-mail.

Perhaps KFC can spin its new menu diversity into increased profitability. If not, the company has definitely succeeded at generating a nationwide buzz. This afternoon, references to KFC and/or Oprah were included in 21 of the top 100 Google Trends list.

Shares of KFC’s parent company, YUM! Brands (Ticker: YUM) are down about one percent today, but have risen steadily in the past month.

I don’t know about the Colonel’s new recipe, but YUM’s stock chart looks pretty good!

For a KFC location near you, visit kfc.com.

BTW- YUM also owns Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, A&W All American Food Restaurants and Long John Silvers.