KFC Partners with Space Flight Experts to Launch a Zinger Burger into Space

KFC and World View announced today that they have partnered to launch the Zinger chicken sandwich to the edge of space and then bring it back, along with telemetry data. Pushing the boundaries of space exploration and fried chicken technology, the mission will be the longest controlled stratospheric balloon flight with a commercial payload in history and the first-ever multi-day mission of the World View Stratollite™ flight system.  

Unlike typical high-altitude balloons, Stratollites can execute a variety of flight profiles – from circumnavigating the Earth to persistence over a specific location – and maintain position over specific areas of interest for days, weeks, and eventually months on end. The Zinger Stratollite launch window opens on June 21. 

From its founding in 1930 by Colonel Harland Sanders, KFC has approached its business with an entrepreneurial and innovative spirit, which lives through partnerships with breaking edge companies like World View. With this application of the Stratollite, together the two brands are showing that rockets are no longer the only way to get payloads to and from space.  

 

"We’re excited to be the ones pushing spicy, crispy chicken sandwich space travel forward,” said Kevin Hochman, KFC U.S. president. “But in all seriousness, we’re proud to support World View’s commitment to advancing space research and trust them to take our world famous Zinger sandwich to space.” 

Representing enormous untapped potential, Stratollites could serve as stationary Wi-Fi hubs in remote or undeveloped areas that may not have existing internet access, or monitor ongoing crisis situations from a previously inaccessible vantage point. Future flights could be used for disaster preparedness and response – from predicting weather events days in advance, to monitoring ongoing or quickly arising weather and disaster events (for example, forest fire detection) –  ultimately assisting first responders with rapid communications and surveying capabilities. 

  

“The Stratollite was created to deliver meaningful access to space for all,” said Taber MacCallum, World View co-founder and chief technology officer. “This mission offers edge-of-space access to KFC, allowing them to embark upon a one-of-a-kind marketing experiment, while we get to pursue our maiden multi-day Stratollite shakedown cruise and open unprecedented access to the stratosphere. It’s a double win.” 

 

In April Mission Commander Colonel Sanders announced the arrival of the KFC Zinger in the U.S. as an individual sandwich or as a $5 Fill Up combo meal. Created by KFC, the chicken experts with more than 70 years of experience, the Zinger is made with a double hand-breaded, 100 percent chicken breast filet and served with lettuce and Colonel’s mayonnaise on a toasted sesame seed bun. The worldfamous sandwich is available in more than 120 countries, and now available in space for a limited time. 

 

Watch this historic flight unfold at www.yesweareactuallysendingachickensandwichto.space (kfcin.space). 

 

The space mission campaign was conceived by Wieden+Kennedy, with support from MediaMonks, Mediavest | Spark, and Edelman.