Chicken is becoming an increasingly popular menu item at fast-food chains.
Studies have shown that chicken is healthier than beef or pork. Beef used to be king when it came to fast food and is taking a hit with customers wanting to make a healthier choice, even when dining in fast food restaurants.
The time and money it costs to raise chickens is far more economical than beef or pork as well, making chicken the go to for many fast-food restaurants and consumers with inflation at a 40-year high.
Chick-fil-A has dominated the fast-food chicken market for well over a decade, since first emerging on the market in the late 1960’s. Chick-fil-A took a never-before-seen approach to serving up chicken. It prepared boneless chicken using a pressure cooker instead of the traditional deep-fried prep. Along with good customer service, Chick-fil-A rocketed to the top in serving up delicious chicken, happy customers and polite staff.
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Popeyes Chicken Sandwich Challenged Chick-fil-A
Popeyes, owned by Restaurant Brands International (QSR), launched its chicken sandwich in 2019 that went viral. The unintentional or completely genius launch of their chicken sandwich was due to Twitter (TWTR) and its reach. The tweet was simply, “Chicken. Brioche. Pickles. New. Sandwich. Popeyes. Nationwide. So. Good. Forgot. How. Speak. In. Complete. Sandwiches. I mean, sentences.”
This tweet was backed up by a chicken sandwich with so many people buying it that store locations were running out of the menu item, similar to what happened to Taco Bell and the Mexican Pizza.
The tweet is estimated to have alone garnished Popeyes with upwards of $65 million in free advertising and it increased its Twitter following by 60%. The tweet truly made its mark in the ‘Chicken Sandwich War.' The Popeyes run at Chick fil-A in 2019 made it a real contender in the fast-food chicken sandwich market and introduced the world to the ‘Chicken Sandwich Wars.’
McDonalds Launches Attack on the Colonel
McDonald's (MCD) is the true leader of what it is to be the fast-food champion, and champions love to compete. Where McDonald's has the most room for improvement is the chicken department. KFC owned by YUM! Brands (YUM) has been a worldwide leader when it comes to serving up fried chicken. KFC has over 20,000 locations worldwide and roughly 40% of those locations are in Asia and only 25% are located in North America.
KFC controls over 11% of the fast-food market. Earlier in the century, every 18 hours a new KFC location was opening up in China. Some communities even held parades celebrating KFC openings.
Beef has never been a huge hit in Asian markets, and as such, chicken is the key menu item. Asian markets want to experience American fast food, but preferably not using beef. So, McDonald's plans to make its attack on KFC with its first test market in Singapore. They are introducing the new Chicken McCrispy Salt & Pepper. Not only is it a new flavor for McDonalds, but it's McDonald's also first attempt at serving a bone-in chicken to its customers.
This limited-time offer price is $6.60 Singapore dollars ($4.71). There is no word of a parade or marching band to welcome the new drumstick. Only time will tell if this new chicken item is a hit or if it's going to sink before it ever makes it across the ocean stateside.
