A New York Times business writer looks at fast food product development, but finds manipulation of language instead:
Corporate jargon can sound austere when used to describe something like the Mashed Potato Bowl, a new menu item at the restaurant chain KFC.
To a fast-food gourmand, the product appears to be a simple, casserole-like mélange of puréed potatoes, corn, fried chicken and cheese, all smothered in brown gravy.
But to Patty Scheibmeir, a senior director for product innovation and development at KFC, the Mashed Potato Bowl is a “convenient meal solution,” a phrase that makes it sound more like a computer security patch than a stomach filler.
The article goes on to explain that KFC’s food is hard to eat on the go. Hence, the need for convenient meal solutions.