JERUSALEM (JTA) — KFC is relaunching in Israel for the fourth time, but this time its restaurants will not be kosher.
The first branch is set to be open this month in the Arab city of Nazareth, in northern Israel, Israel’s Mako news reported.
Negotiations are underway for dozens of other branches throughout the country, according to the report. None of them are slated to be kosher.
KFC announced late last year that it would relaunch in Israel for the fourth time.
Kentucky Fried Chicken opened and closed in Israel in the 1980s and the ’90s, and then remained open between 2003 and 2012.
In KFC’s last incarnation in Israel, franchise owner Udi Shamai’s eight locations went kosher after the company allowed him to switch the milk powder in the crispy coating to soy and to use chickens slaughtered by kosher methods instead of those provided by the company.
“The moment we switched to kosher, sales began to plunge and it was no longer economically viable,” Shamai told Globes in February. “The product was less good, whereas things had gone fine with unkosher chickens.”
KFC has 23,000 outlets in at least 141 countries. It has six outlets in three West Bank Palestinian cities.
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