KFC Releases Vintage Holiday Fried Chicken Buckets

KFC is gifting nostalgia this holiday season. Maintaining the tradition of releasing holiday-themed buckets every year, the beloved fast-food chain is releasing vintage holiday-themed buckets for the 2020 season, throwing customers back to the ’60s and ’70s.

Fast food lovers headed to their local KFC beginning on Tuesday, Nov. 24 to score a serving of that “finger lickin’ good” chicken will find their food served up in one of three holiday-themed buckets. KFC will be re-releasing the iconic 1966 and 1971 U.S. holiday buckets, as well as a new, vintage-inspired design for 2020. The ’66 and ’71 buckets are exact replicas of the original designs, right down to the ’66 bucket’s retired tagline, “North America’s Hospitality Dish.” The new 2020 vintage-inspired design, meanwhile, was inspired by the brand’s heritage buckets/

“KFC bucket meals have been bringing people together around the dinner table for more than 60 years,” Andrea Zahumensky, KFC U.S. CMO, said. “Even though the holidays may look a little different this year, we hope our holiday buckets help everyone hark back to a simpler time and bring some comfort and joy to your homes and your families throughout the season.”

The chain’s now-iconic bucket package was first introduced in 1957 after Pete Harman, the owner of the first KFC-franchised restaurant, purchased buckets to advertise a bucket meal, which had 14 pieces of chicken, mashed potatoes, and gravy. The holiday-themed buckets have since become a yearly tradition that fans look forward to. This year’s buckets will be available beginning Nov. 24, with only limited quantities of the 1966 and 1971 commemorative buckets available.

The buckets are just the latest example of the chain getting into the spirit of the holidays. As fast-food goers chow down on their meal out of their vintage bucket, they can relax by the fireplace with scents of chicken wafting through the air not from their meal but from their firelog. After first debuting during the 2018 holiday season, the KFC 11 Herbs & Spices Firelog is making its return in 2020, and this time it’s going international. For 2020, the firelog will be sold in the U.S. as well as Canada exclusively on Walmart.com and in select Walmart stores.

Designed and manufactured by Enviro-Log, the KFC 11 Herbs & Spices Firelog smells exactly like the Colonel’s secret recipe. Upon its 2018 debut, research reported in Psychology Today reported that the smells trigger areas in the brain strongly linked to memory. The firelog instantly became a covetable holiday tradition and sold out nationwide in both 2018 and 2019.