KFC's Australian liquor plan criticised

A new Australian restaurant outlet being planned by international giant KFC Monday attracted strong criticism after applying for a license to serve alcohol.

The fried chicken chain, which is branded as a family-based place to eat, sparked immediate response from organisations which said serving alcohol in its stores was wrong, Xinhua reported.

KFC is opening a new store in Parramatta, the geographical heart of Sydney, and wants to serve beer and alcoholic apple cider as other fast food outlets do.

But those competitors are much smaller and regarded as niche operations compared to KFC's 600-strong Australian restaurant operation.

Opponents of the plan said KFC's image is broadly based on families and children, and that alcohol had no place in its brand.

"It sounds like one of those harebrained schemes that marketing people come up with," said Mike Daube, Professor of Health Policy at Curtin University in Australia's national capital of Canberra.

"If KFC want to run pubs, let them run pubs, but don't market KFC in association with alcohol. We don't need more normalization of alcohol for kids."