Skiers at two of Italy's most prestigious resorts will soon be able to eat fried chicken from a bucket between runs, as the US fast-food chain KFC prepares to open its first high-altitude restaurants on the slopes of Cortina d'Ampezzo and Madonna di Campiglio in the Dolomites on 5 December.
The openings mark the debut of any fast-food outlet on an Italian ski slope, with menus featuring the chain's most popular products, from spicy wings and burgers to its traditional buckets of fried chicken. KFC said the initiative was aimed at surprising people and reaching places where nobody would expect to find it.
The plans appear to have caught many off guard, including Alberico Zardini, a majority shareholder in Faloria Spa, the company that manages the infrastructure on Mount Faloria in Cortina d'Ampezzo, where a KFC is set to operate at 2,123 metres.
"The mere idea is disgraceful," Zardini told Il Messaggero. "It's absurd and shameful to imagine a fast-food joint in the most beautiful spot in Cortina. Do the people of Cortina not realise what we're risking here?"
Zardini said he had written to Faloria's bosses warning that he would take legal action unless they halted KFC's mountain ambitions. He called it "a mad decision", particularly because the outlet would sell fried chicken inside the Faloria mountain club, where a luxury lodge is due to open on an upper floor. "I am 100% against it and will not just sit back and watch," he said.
The second outlet, in Madonna di Campiglio in south-western Trentino on the opposite side of the Dolomites, will sit at 1,700 metres on Piana di Nambino, next to an upscale après-ski club.
Marzia Farè, chief marketing officer for KFC Italia, said the two restaurants fall under the chain's quick service restaurants range and are part of an effort to reach a broader market beyond its loyal Gen Z customers, from young families to mountain lovers. "We strongly wanted this project because it perfectly represents the way we imagine the evolution of KFC: continuing to surprise, reaching places where no one would expect to find us, and doing so without giving up what makes us unique," she told brandnews.it.
With the cost of Italian ski passes rising each year, the outlets are also likely to appeal to visitors looking for cheap food in otherwise extremely pricey resorts.
The reaction from Italy's food establishment has been sharp. Oscar Farinetti, founder of the high-end food-store chain Eataly, said the brand "doesn't belong here at all", though he directed blame at consumers. "We Italian consumers should be a tad more cultured," he told Il Sole 24 Ore. "We need to acknowledge our assets, our cuisine made of few ingredients and excellent products. There is a lack of studying one's own roots: we're eating fried chicken instead of a nice slice of salami with a glass of fresh wine."
Others voiced concern for mountain culture itself. Luigi Casanova of Mountain Wilderness, an NGO that works to protect mountain environments, told Corriere della Sera that "the era of polenta and luganega sausage is over", while Paola Demagri of Trentino's provincial council said mountain identity was being "sold out to Kentucky chicken". Cristian Ferrari, president of Società Alpinisti Tridentini, the oldest mountain association in the Trentino area, was more measured: "We have nothing against fried chicken, but are we sure this is the issue we should be most worried about?"
