Should we be able to get a wine with with our fast-food fried chicken?

Fast food retailer KFC has confirmed it is trying to open a store in western Sydney that will sell alcohol alongside its usual fried chicken products.

The chain has proposed opening a store on Church Street, Parramatta, and the company has applied for a liquor licence.

In a statement, KFC said it “hopes to introduce a new KFC experience in Parramatta’s CBD in the near future, serving beer and cider as part of its menu”.

The company said that in other countries select KFC stores have liquor licences, serving a small selection of alcohol.

KFC is trying to join a growing number of fast food providers which sell alcohol including chains such as Mad Mex, Nando’s, Guzman y Gomez and Grill’d.

“Can I have a side of vodka, with that?”

The Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA) confirmed KFC had applied to serve alcohol at its new store, and said a decision on whether to grant that would depend on a community impact statement from KFC.

The ILGA released a statement which said: “Before giving approval, ILGA will need to be satisfied that the overall social impact of the proposal will not be detrimental to the well-being of the local or broader community,” the statement said.

One of Australia’s leading public health campaigners has called on the ILGA to reject the KFC liquor licence application.

“It sounds like one of those harebrained schemes that marketing people come up with,” said Mike Daube, Professor of Health Policy at Curtin University.

“It really is quite absurd to be associating a product like KFC with alcohol,” Professor Daube said.

“This is a product that is massively marketed to kids and to families and the last thing we need is kids associating a child-friendly brand with alcohol.

But is this a good move for the franchise?

“If they [KFC] want to run pubs, let them run pubs, but don’t market KFC in association with alcohol. We don’t need more normalisation of alcohol for kids.”

Professor Daube said advertising had a strong effect on children and they would associate the KFC brand with alcohol if the liquor licence was granted.

“There is very substantial evidence that kids are influenced by alcohol advertising and that’s why there is so much pressure to curb even more the kind of alcohol to which kids are exposed,” he said.

“What we are seeing every day at the moment is the KFC Big Bash [cricket tournament] being promoted on television and for kids to be associating that with alcohol takes us into the realms of the absolutely irresponsible.”

This article appears on ABC News, and has been republished here with full permission.