How Does Coffee Grow Into a Daily Habit for KFC Customers?

KFC's low-priced monthly coffee pass has turned its coffee into a routine purchase for a group of middle-aged consumers. A cup can cost as little as 1 yuan at launch and now 5 yuan, well below Luckin and Cotti, and these drinkers treat coffee as flavored water to stay awake rather than a status symbol.

On KFC's fast-food menu, coffee had long sat unnoticed until the chain pushed it through the monthly pass in recent years. The appeal is cost and efficiency: coffee with fried chicken, no marketing interruptions, and no interest in flavor nuance or how does coffee grow.

Coffee has always maintained a low profile on KFC's menu, yet it has unexpectedly become a daily choice for a group of middle-aged consumers. They do not seek identity recognition, nor do they care about coffee's status as a symbol of refinement—they simply treat coffee as flavored water to stay awake. KFC's low-priced monthly coffee pass offers a cup for as little as 1 yuan, and now just 5 yuan, considerably cheaper than Luckin, Cotti, and other brands. These middle-aged people sit in KFC, coffee paired with fried chicken, or enjoying quiet solitude, savoring an efficient consumption experience free from marketing interruptions. Indifferent to coffee's flavor nuances and utterly unconcerned with its status value, they seek only alertness and mental clarity—and KFC's "monthly coffee" happens to meet their demand for cost-effectiveness.

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"A thousand readers see a thousand Hamlets," and the same holds true for coffee consumers. Some treat coffee as a lifesaver during work hours, gulping down a cup every day; others savor it slowly, regarding coffee-drinking as a mark of refinement.

Yet there is another group of people who drink coffee not for any sense of identity, but simply as water—a cup to perk themselves up. These people are the middle-aged consumers sitting in KFC.

On KFC's fast-food-dominated menu, coffee has actually always been there, just tucked away in a corner, waiting to be discovered. It wasn't until recent years, as coffee gradually became a substitute for milk tea among young people, that KFC wanted more people to notice the inconspicuous coffee on its menu, and so launched a low-priced monthly coffee pass.

Once a "monthly coffee" pass is purchased, consumers can enjoy a discounted cup of coffee every day. When the monthly coffee program was first launched, a cup of KFC coffee cost as little as 1 yuan; although it has now risen to 5 yuan a cup, it is still considerably cheaper than most coffee brands like Luckin and Cotti.

However, such discounts did not attract the attention of bargain hunters; instead, they drew a group of middle-aged consumers. They know about coffee drinks costing dozens of yuan a cup on the market, and they understand and respect others spending heavily on them—but when it comes to themselves, they will only choose the 9.9-yuan monthly low-priced coffee.

For this group of middle-aged consumers, coffee is like a cup of soy milk from a breakfast shop—ordinary and unremarkable—so there is no need to pay much for it. They sit in KFC, drinking coffee and scrolling on their phones, relaxed and at ease, utterly indifferent to outside perceptions, and others cannot judge them through a cup of coffee.

This free-and-easy attitude toward coffee means the number of middle-aged coffee drinkers in KFC only grows. They might pair coffee with fried chicken, clink cups with a few friends, and engage in lively discussion about sights and experiences from all over. Or they might pick a spot for quiet solitude, working, reading, or scrolling on their phones in coffee's company, treating KFC as a foothold in their lives.

Moreover, if you order a coffee at KFC, the staff will not utter a single marketing pitch upon hearing your request—they will simply and silently make the coffee quickly and bring it to you. For middle-aged people who are clear about their goals and pursue efficiency, an ad-free and efficient consumption experience from start to finish is exactly what they want.

And at KFC, no matter how much sugar or milk is added to the coffee, no employee will come discuss the taste and flavor with you, nor will anyone lecture you on how a cup of coffee should be drunk. Middle-aged people can enjoy the deliciousness in their hands without restraint, healing a bit of life in the coffee's aroma.

For this group of middle-aged consumers who drink coffee like water, the refinement, emotional value, and so on that a cup of coffee might offer will never be their reason for consuming. They care only about whether it can meet their needs—as long as it can keep them alert and awake, any drink is acceptable; it's just that among these drinks, KFC's "monthly coffee" offers better value for money.

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