Yomiuri: New Plant to Supply 30% of KFC Japan's Chickens

By Rio Honma / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

A new poultry processing plant dedicated exclusively to Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) has been launched in Aomori Prefecture, northern Japan, and is set to supply roughly 30% of the restaurant chain's products to be sold in the country.

Operations began Monday, with its processed meat to be sold at shops located in areas ranging from northern Kanto to Hokkaido.

Construction on the plant began around spring last year and was completed in late September this year. The plant is managed by Prifoods Co., a meat manufacturer based in Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture.

The plant's premises span around 60,000 square meters. It employs 140 workers and has a processing capacity of 8,000 chickens per hour, or up to 60,000 per day.

Chickens processed at the plant will be procured from within the prefecture and neighboring Iwate Prefecture. Each bird is cut into nine parts before being packaged. Labor-saving measures have been implemented at the plant, including the use of AI-powered image processing for quality inspection.

The plant's completion ceremony was held Wednesday, attended by about 80 people including prefectural government officials and Atsushi Najima, president of Kentucky Fried Chicken Japan Ltd. Attendees toured the facility after the ceremony.

"We will operate this plant with safety and quality as our top priorities," said Prifoods President Yoichi Motoyoshi at the ceremony. "We will wholeheartedly develop it into a facility that contributes to the local community."

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This article is from The Yomiuri Shimbun. Neither Dow Jones Newswires, MarketWatch, Barron's nor The Wall Street Journal were involved in the creation of this content.

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November 02, 2026 03:48 ET (08:48 GMT)