To receive food stamps in New York State, one must be single and make under $14,088 a year, or a be in a family of four and make under $26,668. According to LoHud, the amount of money distributed through the EBT program is up 133% this year, compared with when the recession began in 2007. Three million people were on food stamps this July, a 70% increase from that year. You can't buy Double Downs with them quite yet, but our money is on Taco Bell anyway—those half-pound burritos temporarily take the pain away. more ›

Remember a couple years back Oprah decided to offer up some free KFC and it almost sparked a riot? Get ready to make some more memories with the Colonel, because tomorrow there's gonna be free KFC original recipe chicken being doled out of a food truck courtesy of Country Music Television. Apparently it's to promote this show with a guy and his mobile food lab, which sounds sort of like Breaking Bad but without the meth. more ›

Food stamps are all the rage these days—one in five New Yorkers are on 'em, using stamps to pay for everything from Wonder bread to organic Japanese eggplant. So it makes sense that more businesses would want a piece of the food stamp pie—businesses like fast food restaurants, to be exact. more ›

A man can only make so many Meximelts, and be burned from Cinnamon Twist grease so many times before he reaches his breaking point. Adam, a shift manager at a Taco Bell / KFC combo store outside Buffalo, was upset that he reportedly had to work 22 days in a row and was denied a day off on July 4. So he ended his career in a flash of brilliance, posting the above farewell message for his overlords and the public to see. more ›

There's a hilarious story in the Times today about Queens resident Abdul Haye, who owns the trademark for Kennedy Fried Chicken. Despite the fact that Kennedy itself was successfully sued for ripping of Kentucky Friend Chicken's trademark, Haye has embarked on a scorched-earth campaign to bring some 300-plus unauthorized Kennedy outlets to their knees. The rhetoric is as fiery as a twelve-piece order of hot wings. Haye tells the Times, "I'm declaring war against all the Afghans in New York who have stolen my name and my idea. Their poor-quality chicken is going to kill my reputation. I am the only real Kennedy!" But is he in fact the real Kennedy? more ›

Because the KFC Double Down sandwich—two pieces of bacon, melted Monterey Jack and Pepper Jack cheese, and the Colonel's sauce nestled between two chicken fillets instead of bread slices—didn't get much media attention when it debuted in April, the company is resorting to grassroots marketing. On your ass. If you are a female college undergraduate, you are eligible to receive $500 from KFC in exchange for wearing KFC Double Down branded sweat pants around campus. You'll also need to turn over your dignity (if you've still got any). But hey, that's all part of growing up! more ›

Remember that $16 million YMCA that opened in Park Slope this past winter? Well, it would like to be called "the Y" now, thank you very much. The 166-year-old institution is re-branding, and it's taking a cue from its biggest fans: “It’s a way of being warmer, more genuine, more welcoming, when you call yourself what everyone else calls you,” said Kate Coleman, the organization’s senior vice president and chief marketing officer. Yeah, unless what everyone is calling you is "Prince of Darkness" or "Numbnuts". more ›

The website Topcultured produces a downright diabolical feature "Will They Build It," wherein they create astonishingly unhealthy hybrid sandwiches out of already over-the-top food items. Past creations have included their Arby's "Every Animal on the Farm Sandwich," which, well, is exactly as horrifying as you might suspect. And their most recent mission is as depraved as it is timely: "Take the infamous Double Down and the fabled Luther Burger and make the KFC & Krispy Kreme Fried Chicken Luther Double Down Sandwich." Unclean! more ›

As you may have heard, today KFC rolls out a new food product, The Double Down. It is a sandwich with two chicken fillets instead of bread slices; in between you will find two pieces of bacon, melted slices of Monterey Jack and Pepper Jack cheese and the Colonel's sauce (which is akin to mayo). The Double Down also comes with 540 calories, 32 grams of fat, 1,380 milligrams of sodium, and definitively wipes away any remaining crumbs of moderation or dignity left on the American bib. But does it live up to the hype? more ›

Last week we got sent a press release about a KFC publicity stunt at the UN, and shrugged it off because we're not corporate tools who reblog each and every publicity stunt (unless it involves American Apparel). But what makes this one interesting is that the stunt has deeply embarrassed UN security, who allowed a guy dressed like Colonel Sanders into restricted areas of the UN without security clearance. The guy even got a photo op with current president of the United Nations General Assembly, Libya’s Dr. Ali A. Treki! more ›

KFC, which guards its secret recipe so closely that it's kept in a safe at corporate headquarters, can't be too happy about this: A Long Island man says he's all but figured out the secret to KFC's distinctive taste. Two years ago Ron Douglas quit his job as finance manager at JP Morgan to fully devote himself to his website, which publishes recipes that aim to recreate menu items at chain restaurants like Applebee's and Denny's. But the Colonel's secret is the holy grail of recipes, and Douglas has spent years trying to figure it out, even going so far as to try to bribe a cook at the chain. (The cook declined.) His new cookbook features his sixth attempt at replicating the top-secret recipe, and he tells the Post, "Nobody knows what those 11 herbs and spices are. But if you taste my chicken, you would find the flavor very similar to KFC." But 'very similar' sounds like an understatement (or an attempt to avoid a trademark lawsuit); after a taste test the tabloid deemed his chicken "an exact match" with KFC. Okay, but is it worth rioting over? more ›

Well, we had a good run. Today KFC has made the unsurprising decision to suspend its Oprah-backed grilled chicken giveaway. The overwhelming nationwide demand for free food had depleted KFC's chicken supply to such a degree that the company was actually going to run out of chicken before Mother's Day, which is said to be the chain's most lucrative business day. In this awkwardly upbeat video, KFC president Roger Eaton—who has the weirdest Kentucky accident we've ever heard—explains the crisis, now entering day three: more ›

If the demand for the free grilled chicken combo meal continues at its current pace, KFC could run out of chicken by Saturday. An anonymous source explains why to Business Insider: "The stores cannot cook the product fast enough, sales were up 25-35% BEFORE this. A franchisee today told me KFC is projected to strip their entire supply chain of bird by Saturday. I am not making that up. They are scrambling to source more chicken before Sunday. By Sunday, because it's Mothers Day, one of their busiest days of the year. It's possible they could be out of chicken on Mothers Day." more ›

Who could have predicted that handing out free meals during the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression would be so messy? KFC locations across America were hammered yesterday by an overwhelming demand for free fowl, after Oprah Winfrey promoted a giveaway for two pieces of KFC's new grilled chicken, two sides, and a biscuit. New York City was particularly hard hit; tipsters tell Midtown Lunch that there were about 50 people "crammed into a very tiny space" during lunch hour at the 50th & 7th Avenue KFC. more ›

[UPDATE BELOW] Yesterday Oprah Winfrey thought she'd be nice and arrange for free KFC grilled chicken for everybody. Big mistake. The demand for free fowl has been so overwhelming that many people are having a dickens of a time getting their chickens because the website can't handle all the coupon downloads. This morning Grub Street compiled some of the more "heart wrenching" comments from thwarted KFC consumers on Oprah's site, such as "I'M MELTING CAN'T GET THE COUPONS PLEASE IS THERE ANOTHER WAY OF GETTING THEM ???? HUNGRY FOR THE CHIICKEN" and "Nice gesture since I am unemployed and a free dinner would have been nice. I could not download the coupon." more ›

A security firm run by former New York City police detective Bo Dietl has been hired by KFC to move the fast food chain's secret "Original Recipe" of 11 herbs and spices, which has been not been moved from its safe in corporate headquarters for 68 years. The single sheet of notebook paper, yellowed by age, lays out the entire formula, and was written in pencil and signed by Colonel Harland Sanders in 1940. more ›

Lady Bunny is the latest to join the ranks of Team PETA, and has unveiled the organization's newest billboard, which features the drag queen (image here). Located at the intersection of Varick and Spring Streets, it encourages people to "kick the bucket" and states that "sometimes big bright packages contain dirty little secrets." more ›