It’s lunchtime at the KFC on Queen St. W. at Augusta Ave., and Rob Savage is having a full-blown foodgasm.

“It. Is. Awesome,” he says through a mouthful of his first Double Down “sandwich” — KFC’s notorious bunless creation that squeezes bacon, processed cheese and “the Colonel’s savoury secret sauce” between two slabs of fried chicken.

Chasing the buzz around the Double Down, Savage convinced four of his work colleagues to try it together. An adjacent table is full of six architects from a nearby firm also tackling their first Double Downs.

“It wouldn’t be an everyday lunch thing,” Savage says, “but I had to try it.”

Fuelled by months of hype — including speculation that it wouldn’t even be allowed into the country — the Double Down has become KFC Canada’s best-selling new menu item ever. By Sunday — less than two weeks after the product launched — the company said it will have sold more than 350,000 across the country.

“This is one of the best quick-serve restaurant product launches that I’ve seen in a long, long time — maybe ever,” said Brent Barr, a marketing instructor at Ryerson University’s Ted Rogers School of Management.

KFC Canada originally refused to sell the Double Down until it was first tested in the U.S. market. When it debuted there in April, it quickly became the most successful “sandwich” in KFC’s history, selling more than 10 million in the first month.

Though widely criticized as gratuitous stunt food, the Double Down’s 540 calories are actually similar to most other fast-food options. Even its sodium content — more than Health Canada’s recommended daily intake — is not drastically different than other fast foods.

But the product’s notoriety — and particularly the speculation, real or perceived, that it could have been barred from Canada — worked in its favour, said Richard Michon, another marketing professor at Ryerson.

“You create something that’s almost illegal and then there’s more demand for it.”

Barr said the key to Double Down’s success has been its unprecedented publicity, led by its Toronto-based public relations firm Strategic Objectives.

“When (a product) is talked about in the media and it’s not just an ad, consumers connect with it differently; they see it as more credible,” Barr said. “People are starting to recognize that a marketing strategy needs to include not only a paid media, but also an unpaid media.”

Dan Howe, chief marketing officer for Yum! Restaurants Canada — KFC’s parent company, which also owns Pizza Hut and Taco Bell — attributed Double Down’s success to a “360-degree” marketing strategy, which included social media. KFC Canada’s Facebook page has almost 2,000 fans, all clamouring to join the “Double Down Wall of Fame.”

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Still, Howe called the Double Down an “indulgent, occasional” food. “It’s just that a lot of Canadians want to try it.”

Despite its success Howe said there are no plans to keep the Double Down on KFC’s menu beyond Nov. 14.