Note: The meal for this sponsored event is on the house.
I was invited along with a few other bloggers and Twitter influencers for a tasting session of Five Star Chicken's food offerings and also a sneak preview of some of the products they would release to the Chennai market shortly. We were lucky to be briefed by some very senior people in the company and learnt not just about the brand but also some interesting things about food preferences among their customers in India. So I returned not just with a full belly but also more knowledgeable at the end of this event.
Interesting Facts about Five Star Chicken's parent company
They are known to be the world's largest feed manufacturing company. And one of the top 5 poultry producers in the world!
Whenever I've heard the brand name Five Star Chicken, I've always thought it was a brand that originated from Chennai or at least India. Imagine my surprise when Mr. Sanjeev Pant (Senior VP, CP Foods) gave a very interesting overview of the brand and its history both in India and the world. First shocker was that it was owned by a Thailand based company that was almost 100 years old and it has more than 7000 outlets currently doing well in most SE Asian countries around India! When we think of fast food we think of western brands but here's an Eastern fast food giant that's among the fastest growing in Asia!
Secondly, the brand has more than 357 outlets just in South India and rapidly growing.
A point of interest about CP Foods is that they are deeply involved in the entire supply chain as far as meat is concerned. CP Foods has farms in South India and rears their own chickens to be supplied to Five Star chicken. Mr. Sanjeev said they can now pinpoint the origin of chicken served to every customer throughout the franchisee chain. So any quality concerns can be swiftly found and rectified. Personally I felt reassured because the quality of chicken meat is sure to be pretty high because of this "Farm to Food" model.
Business model followed in India
They explained that when it started off in India, with the kiosk model set up right on the street as is common in their outlets in other countries. However, this did not work out as planned since Indians preferred a more formal shop setup for various reasons. So, to keep costs low and still satisfy the customer a model without much operational costs was developed. Their outlets don't have seating n tables or only have very few so there's very less overhead due to smaller property size. The resulting savings are passed on to customers in the form of much lower prices for high quality food. The target market being students and youngsters who want a tasty meal for a good price and mostly do takeaway.
Party orders on a budget
This is another innovative thing they do where they set up decoration arrangements at a reasonable cost when you order for a particular amount for any parties you may host. They have a separate team handling house calls.
Finally after the exhaustive brand overview, we were quite hungry and glad to see food coming our way. Well we are foodies at heart. :) Since this was their corporate office with a small training kitchen, they had set up the conference room table nicely for the food tasting session. Here are the dishes that were brought in. Get ready for a LOT of chicken. :)
First came "Thai Crispy" which is the signature fried chicken item in their menu. It is subtly flavored with a secret mix of Thai herbs n spices they said. It was very crispy, tasty and a lot less oilier than expected which is great. Not sure what Thai specific flavors it has since I haven't tried much Thai cuisine other than Phad Thai. The other Crunchy Masala is more Indianized with stronger flavors but with the same crunchy crispy outer layer. Both of them had substantial sized pieces which is one of Five Star chicken's strong points.
Thai Crispy bucket
I was invited along with a few other bloggers and Twitter influencers for a tasting session of Five Star Chicken's food offerings and also a sneak preview of some of the products they would release to the Chennai market shortly. We were lucky to be briefed by some very senior people in the company and learnt not just about the brand but also some interesting things about food preferences among their customers in India. So I returned not just with a full belly but also more knowledgeable at the end of this event.
Interesting Facts about Five Star Chicken's parent company
They are known to be the world's largest feed manufacturing company. And one of the top 5 poultry producers in the world!
Whenever I've heard the brand name Five Star Chicken, I've always thought it was a brand that originated from Chennai or at least India. Imagine my surprise when Mr. Sanjeev Pant (Senior VP, CP Foods) gave a very interesting overview of the brand and its history both in India and the world. First shocker was that it was owned by a Thailand based company that was almost 100 years old and it has more than 7000 outlets currently doing well in most SE Asian countries around India! When we think of fast food we think of western brands but here's an Eastern fast food giant that's among the fastest growing in Asia!
Secondly, the brand has more than 357 outlets just in South India and rapidly growing.
A point of interest about CP Foods is that they are deeply involved in the entire supply chain as far as meat is concerned. CP Foods has farms in South India and rears their own chickens to be supplied to Five Star chicken. Mr. Sanjeev said they can now pinpoint the origin of chicken served to every customer throughout the franchisee chain. So any quality concerns can be swiftly found and rectified. Personally I felt reassured because the quality of chicken meat is sure to be pretty high because of this "Farm to Food" model.
Business model followed in India
They explained that when it started off in India, with the kiosk model set up right on the street as is common in their outlets in other countries. However, this did not work out as planned since Indians preferred a more formal shop setup for various reasons. So, to keep costs low and still satisfy the customer a model without much operational costs was developed. Their outlets don't have seating n tables or only have very few so there's very less overhead due to smaller property size. The resulting savings are passed on to customers in the form of much lower prices for high quality food. The target market being students and youngsters who want a tasty meal for a good price and mostly do takeaway.
Party orders on a budget
This is another innovative thing they do where they set up decoration arrangements at a reasonable cost when you order for a particular amount for any parties you may host. They have a separate team handling house calls.
Finally after the exhaustive brand overview, we were quite hungry and glad to see food coming our way. Well we are foodies at heart. :) Since this was their corporate office with a small training kitchen, they had set up the conference room table nicely for the food tasting session. Here are the dishes that were brought in. Get ready for a LOT of chicken. :)
Menu taken from Zomato
Five Star Chicken Home Delivery Number: 7676977777
First came "Thai Crispy" which is the signature fried chicken item in their menu. It is subtly flavored with a secret mix of Thai herbs n spices they said. It was very crispy, tasty and a lot less oilier than expected which is great. Not sure what Thai specific flavors it has since I haven't tried much Thai cuisine other than Phad Thai. The other Crunchy Masala is more Indianized with stronger flavors but with the same crunchy crispy outer layer. Both of them had substantial sized pieces which is one of Five Star chicken's strong points.
Thai Crispy bucket
Chicken fingers: Hot, Crunchy and satisfying. Mild spiced chicken meat inside.
The Veg fingers were served next along with the Peri Peri fries which was great. Thinly sliced and with the zing of Peri Peri spice it was better than the normal fries we get. You can request the spice level as per your tastes at outlets according to them. Veg fingers were good too!
Peri Peri Fries
Here's the training kitchen. Took a break from eating and checked this out. I've always wondered how training happens for these food chains.
The staff explaining to us about what happens in here. Staff are trained to follow all quality control guidelines. There is strict separation between vegetarian and non vegetarian preparations they assured us to a query from one of the attendees.
Back to food...
Chole Chatpata Roll
A great choice for the vegetarians! This dish impressed me with its taste and the pricing is also very affordable. The spiced chole filling was just right. And the wrapping was also of perfect thickness n nice crispness. Found myself taking quite a few bites. Definitely a must try.
Chicken Hungry Bird Burger
Unfortunately by the time this guy came to the table, I wasn't a hungry bird. Felt pretty full so just took a bite to taste. Good burger buns, crispy patty with good amount of mayo. A good chicken burger no surprises there.
Chicken Nuggets
Very crispy. Tasted good similar to the chicken fingers. However, they said there was a small difference in the spicing used for the meat.
Chicken Peri Peri
Since I am used to seeing Peri Peri only in Nandos, I thought this would be the grilled version but this was crispy fried chicken coated with the spicy Peri Peri masala. Tasted good, the spice mix reminded me of magic masala a bit. The combo of Peri Peri and crunch felt unique. If you want a pretty strongly spicy chicken, go for this.
Chicken Popcorn
Everyone loved this one. What's not to like about boneless crispy fried chicken anyway? Some of the masala was sprinkled on as well.
On the right is Miss Ruth who helps to create innovative new items on the menu. She works with a team of highly qualified chefs to come up with the right formula for the Indian market. Sounds like a great job!
Aloo Paratha
Forgot to take a pic of this one but tasted it. It was soft, tasty and good. A good traditional item to try.
Mexican Hot Dog
We were in for a surprise when they told us to try out some items that will be launched in the near future in Chennai. I was skeptical whether the hot dog would be tasty since the ones I've had in India have either had ordinary sausages or an overdose of mustard sauce. But the hot dogs that were served to us were great! Mexican hot dog was super with a good Jalapeno taste coming through and the bun and sausage were very fresh which made this even more yummy. I hope the outlets have such fresh sausages too since it makes a huge difference and I'm sure it would have a lot of fans.
Italian Hot Dog
Next came the Italian hot dog. Looked yummy. The sausage was filled with cheese and had Italian spices in them. Again soft sausages and a creamy cheesy interior made this a really good hot dog! "Italian" flavors were really nice. However, the way the jalapeno sauce is squeezed on is wrong. Usually the sauce has to be put only on the sausage otherwise eating becomes unnecessarily messy. Hope they note this!
We were also served Veg burger, Mix Veg roll and Spicy Chicken Roll. Was unable to try them because of being overly filled up!
Chocolate Samosa!
The event ended on a sweet note with a surprise dessert being served us. Hot chocolate samosas, filled with oozing dark chocolate and nuts was a tasty sweet twist on the samosa. It was yummy. A pretty innovative item for the Indian market and I think it'll be well received!
nice Peri Peri French Fries
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