KFC’s London pop-up with La Vieille Ferme nearly sold out more than a week before opening

Tickets for a London pop-up from KFC and La Vieille Ferme have almost entirely sold out more than a week before the venue is due to open for the August bank holiday weekend, leaving only a small number of late-evening places still to be released.

The event, called Coq au Vin, is scheduled to run from Friday, Aug. 28, through Monday, Aug. 31, at Kachette Annex in Shoreditch. It is being presented as a temporary chicken-and-wine bar built around pairings of KFC food and wines from La Vieille Ferme, a French label that has become widely known in Britain by the nickname “chicken wine.”

Organizers said every daytime and early-evening sitting that had already been released for sale was taken, covering 15 sessions across the four-day run. Tickets are priced at £15. The only remaining places are for three 8 p.m. sessions on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, which are due to be released separately closer to the opening date.

The pace of ticket sales offers an early sign of demand for a concept that combines a major fast-food chain with a wine brand whose popularity has grown well beyond traditional wine audiences. The event centers on a pairing that is intentionally unconventional: fried chicken served alongside wines from La Vieille Ferme, which is produced by Famille Perrin in France’s Rhône Valley.

The wine has built a strong social media following in the UK, where consumers began referring to it as “chicken wine” because its label features a rooster and a hen. The nickname has circulated widely on TikTok and Instagram, helping give the bottle an identity that is more informal and more recognizable to younger drinkers than many mainstream wine labels.

That online attention has also translated into retail sales. In 2024, Sainsbury’s said sales of La Vieille Ferme Rosé rose 96% from a year earlier. The supermarket later expanded the offer by introducing the wine in magnum format, a sign that the label’s popularity had moved from internet trend to sustained consumer demand.

The Shoreditch pop-up turns that nickname into a physical event. According to the organizers, the menu is meant to test standard ideas about wine pairing by placing the wine alongside one of the best-known fried chicken brands in the UK. While wine events often focus on tastings, formal presentations or producer-led education, this project uses brand familiarity, humor and social media recognition to attract customers.

That approach comes at a time when parts of the wine business are looking for new ways to bring consumers into the category, especially people who may not attend a conventional wine tasting or who see wine as expensive or difficult to understand. A £15 ticket, a recognizable food brand and a setting built around a joke already familiar online appear to have lowered that barrier for many customers.

The event is also notable because of where it is being staged. Shoreditch has long been used by brands for temporary launches and pop-ups aimed at consumers who are active online and open to experience-led marketing. By choosing a short four-day run over a bank holiday weekend, the organizers are concentrating demand into a brief window when Londoners and visitors are more likely to make social plans.

For KFC, the collaboration extends a pattern seen across the fast-food business, where chains increasingly use limited-time events and partnerships to drive attention beyond their restaurants. For La Vieille Ferme, the pop-up gives the brand a chance to deepen its presence in the UK by moving from supermarket shelves and social posts into a live hospitality setting.

The near sellout before opening also suggests that food-and-drink events built around accessible pricing and broad brand recognition may have an advantage over more formal wine programming. While many wine-led events rely on specialist knowledge or established enthusiasts, Coq au Vin appears to be drawing interest by making wine part of a casual and familiar night out.

The remaining tickets, when released, will cover only the 8 p.m. sessions on Aug. 28, Aug. 29 and Aug. 30. All other listed sittings, from Friday lunchtime through Monday afternoon, are sold out.

The collaboration follows a period in which retailers and producers have been trying to create occasions around wine rather than relying only on the bottle itself. In the case of La Vieille Ferme, the shift has been especially visible in the UK, where the “chicken wine” label has helped turn a standard branded wine into a wider social media reference point. In 2024, Sainsbury’s reported that sales of La Vieille Ferme Rosé had climbed 96% year over year.