Bangkok--4 Jun--Idea Works Communications Amidst slumping economy, fried chicken restaurant chain KFC has been standing firm in its leading position, announcing 16% growth in sales in the first half of 2008. The restaurant chain has also assured that the price of KFC fried chicken would not be increased despite rising costs. According to YUM! Restaurants International (Thailand) managing director Sran Smutkochorn, sales of KFC fried chicken in the first six months of this year increased by 16% over the same period last year in spite of economic difficulties affecting most people and other businesses. “The growth is mainly driven by our newly opened restaurants, while sales from existing restaurants account for 7% of the total sales. In the first half, we were really prepared for the sluggish economy by launching many marketing strategies like introducing new recipes sold at reasonable price and adding new restaurants to serve more customers. There were 19 new restaurants opened over the last six months,” said Saran. He added, “Costs are significantly rising. However, we have no policy to raise price of our fried chicken and additional services. The delivery service charge remains fixed at 20 baht. Additionally, we are trying to reduce impact of rising oil price on our delivery staff by paying fuel allowance according to the most current oil price.” “Rising operation costs and soaring oil price is the greatest challenge for us in the second half. As our customers are facing higher living cost, KFC is trying to help lessen such impact by keeping price firmed for both restaurant service and delivery. We concentrate on improving our management efficiency to reduce costs in stead of raising price,” noted Sran. “Especially Euro Cup 2008 is coming, most people tend to stay at home and enjoy their meals with friends and families. We see flourishing business opportunities for our delivery service, however, we confirm not to raise any delivery service charge.” Sran ended