Why KFC Had To Leave Syria

Syrians eat at a KFC outlet in Damascus in 2006. It closed its doors this month. (Khaled al-Hariri/Reuters)

What KFC’s Exit From Syria Says About the Country's Horrifying Food Crisis -- Adam Heffez, The Atlantic

The Colonel held out through two years of conflict, but recently the economic conditions there have become untenable.

In 2006, Kentucky Fried Chicken opened Syria’s first American restaurant in Damascus. The franchise weathered more than two and a half years of war, but this month, it became one of the last foreign businesses in the country to close its doors.

The picture of a quintessential American brand thriving in an “Axis of Evil” country currently targeted by U.S. sanctions may seem contradictory at first blush. Yet, in the Middle East, people have spent up to seven times their daily income on a bucket of fried chicken. Even in the Gaza Strip, where the average income hovers around $2 (U.S.) per day, KFC remains popular. The KFC branch in Al-Arish, Egypt has smuggled in deliveries through Hamas’s tunnels for $30 a meal. The United Arab Emirates, a country that has roughly the same population as New Jersey, opened its 100th KFC branch this May. Libya and Iraq crave KFC no less: Knockoffs of the restaurant— “Uncle Kentucky” in Tripoli and Fallujah—thrive in places where American ideas may not be winning hearts and minds, but they are winning stomachs.

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My Comment: It is always the little things that gets people upset and/or realizing that the times are changing .... KFC leaving Syria is one those things. On a side note .... what is it about American fast food that finds almost everyone in the world wanting and willing to pay extra to enjoy it. Hmmmm .... this is interesting .... I now have a craving for KFC?