SUMMARYIntroductionWith the long history and high profit, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) and McDonalds are the two biggest fast food companies in UK. KFC Corporation, based in Louisville, Kentucky, is the worlds most popular chicken restaurant chain. Every day, nearly eight million customers are served around the world. KFCs menu includes original recipe chicken which was made more than a half-century ago. Customers around the globe also enjoy more than 300 other products .Similarly, McDonald's is the leading global food service retailer serving more than 58 million people in 118 countries each day. More than 75% of McDonald's restaurants worldwide are owned and operated independently by local people. They serve the world some of its favorite foods - World Famous Fries, Big Mac, Quarter Pounder. PurposeAims to investigate the effect of communicating corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives to young consumers in the UK on their fast-food purchasing with reference to McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC).Design/methodology/approach Focus groups were conducted to clarify themes and inform a questionnaire on fast-food purchasing behaviors and motives. Attitude statements were subjected to an exploratory factor analysisBodyThe UK fast-food market is worth an estimated 7.82 billion annually (Keynote, 2003),amounting to an average spend of 20/month per adult (McDonald, 2003). Due to busier consumer lifestyles and dual-working families with children, emphasis is increasingly being placed on quick meal solutions). This has resulted in a market growth of 19 per cent in fast food since 1998 (Keynote, 2003). UK consumers tend to regard convenience and wholesomeness as polar opposites, rather than a complementary type of food value (Jack et al., 1997, 1998). These researchers found that convenience is likely to be associated with extensive food processing, as in the example of manufactured snack foods; such snacks are perceived as convenient but unhealthy, while unprocessed fruit as a snack are perceived as healthy but inconvenient. Fast food meals based on burgers and fried chicken (e.g. MacDonalds, KFC) also tend to be perceived as convenient but unhealthy. There has been a sustained increase in the demand for convenience foods and snacks over a number of years Moreover, a greater volume of fast food is consumed in the UK than in any other country in Europe Recently, the notion that processed convenience foods are contributing to an obesity epidemic has led to litigation proceedings against McDonalds. At the same time, a number of fast-food companies and food manufacturers have reviewed the fat and sugar contents of their product ranges, and reconsidered the size of the portions they offer. New healthy options (e.g. pasta salad, fruit bags, corn-on-the-cob) can now be purchased from fast-food outlets alongside traditional burger and chicken meals. Another recent innovative strategy by McDonalds and KFC enables dietary information for each meal to be accessed via nutritional calculator tools on each companys web siteConclusionFindings-Most respondents (82 per cent) regularly purchased fast food from one of the companies; purchases were mostly impulsive (57 per cent) or routine (26 per cent), suggesting relatively low-level involvement in each case. While there was scepticism regarding the CSR activity being promoted, expectations about socially responsible behavior by the companies were nevertheless high. Four factors were isolated, together explaining 52 per cent of the variance in fast-food purchasing behavior. They were brand value, nutritional value, ethical value and food quality. Research limitations/implications The research was conducted with students, and while these represent a key-target market, any further research should target a more diverse public. Practical implications There are important implications for global fast-food companies in terms of protecting and developing their brand value; they need to respond to the wider food-related debates in society, in particular, those concerning healthy eating and food ethics. They also need to ensure that their business practices are fully consistent with the values expressed in their CSR initiatives. The special value of the paper lies in its joining together of current perspectives on CSR and consumer value in the UK food industry as it explores both through the perceptions of young consumers of fast food.