The Great Chicken Sandwich Wars is a marketing trend in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

during which a great number of American quick serve restaurant chains introduced

fried chicken Fried chicken, also known as Southern fried chicken, is a dish consisting of chicken pieces that have been coated with seasoned flour or batter and pan-fried, deep fried, pressure fried, or air fried. The breading adds a crisp coating o ...

sandwiches to their menus. The phenomenon began in 2019 when the

Popeyes Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Inc., also known as Popeyes and formerly named Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits and Popeyes Famous Fried Chicken & Biscuits, is an American multinational chain of fried chicken fast food restaurants that was formed in 1972 ...

and Chick-fil-A chains disputed which of them was first to serve such an item. Over 20 American fast food brands added fried chicken sandwiches to their menus during the next two years.

History

On August 12, 2019,

introduced a fried chicken sandwich to its menu, an addition that prompted Chick-fil-A (a chain that had seen its market share increase in the 21st century, buoyed by increasing American consumption of chicken) to claim – in a

Tweet Tweet often refers to: * Tweet (bird call), a type of bird vocalization * Tweet, a post on the social media platform Twitter Tweet may also refer to: People * Tweet (singer) (born 1971), American R&B and soul singer-songwriter * Jonathan Tweet, ...

– that its own fried chicken sandwich predated Popeyes' sandwich. A tête-à-tête on social media between the two restaurant chains followed, which ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' reported "captivated the internet for ... week and a half". By the end of 2019, Popeyes had seen a 38 percent increase in sales, with the surge in business largely attributed to its new chicken sandwich. In a November episode of the comedy serial ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serve ...

'',

Harry Styles Harry Edward Styles (born 1 February 1994) is an English singer, songwriter, and actor. His musical career began in 2010 as a solo contestant on the British music competition series ''The X Factor''. Following his elimination, he was brought ...

starred in a sketch that parodied the popularity of the Popeyes chicken sandwich. In response to the perceived popularity of the Popeyes menu item, additional fast food chains added or expanded fried chicken sandwich offerings to their own menus. By January 2021, more than 20 American fast food brands had introduced or re-released chicken sandwiches. In addition to Popeyes and Chick-fil-A, they included:

Golden Chick Golden Chick is a quick-service restaurant franchise headquartered in Richardson, Texas. Mark Parmerlee, head of Golden Tree Restaurants serves as the President and Chairman. The first restaurant was in 1967 in San Marcos, Texas, under the nam ...

KFC KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) is an American fast food restaurant chain headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, that specializes in fried chicken. It is the world's second-largest restaurant chain (as measured by sales) after McDonald's, with 2 ...

Fatburger Fatburger North America Inc. (doing business as Fatburger) is an American fast casual restaurant chain. Its tagline is ''The Last Great Hamburger Stand''. While it is a fast food restaurant, the food is cooked and made to order. Some Fatburger ...

Church's Chicken Church's Texas Chicken is an American fast food restaurant chain that specializes in fried chicken and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The chain was founded as Church's Fried Chicken To-Go by George W. Church Sr. on April 17, 1952, in San ...

Wendy's Wendy's is an American international fast food restaurant chain founded by Dave Thomas (1932–2002) on November 15, 1969, in Columbus, Ohio. Its headquarters moved to Dublin, Ohio, on January 29, 2006. As of December 31, 2018, Wendy's was ...

BurgerFi BurgerFi International, LLC (doing business as BurgerFi) is an American hamburger restaurant chain aimed at the "better burger" sector of the market. The first location was opened in February 2011 in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Florida. History ...

Zaxby's Zaxby's is an American chain of fast casual restaurants offering chicken wings, chicken fingers, sandwiches, and salads. The chain operates primarily in the Southern United States and has more than 900 locations. Most Zaxby's restaurants are owne ...

, Fuku,

Jack in the Box Jack in the Box is an American fast-food restaurant chain founded February 21, 1951, by Robert O. Peterson (1916–1994) in San Diego, California, where it is headquartered. The chain has over 2,200 locations, primarily serving the West Coas ...

Sonic Sonic or Sonics may refer to: Companies *Sonic Drive-In, an American drive-in fast-food restaurant chain * Sonic (ISP), an Internet provider and CLEC, serving more than 100 California communities * Sonic Foundry, a computer software company wh ...

, Carl's Jr.,

Shake Shack Shake Shack is an American fast casual restaurant chain based in New York City. It started out as a hot dog cart inside Madison Square Park in 2001, and its popularity steadily grew. In 2004, it received a permit to open a permanent kiosk wi ...

Boston Market Boston Market Corporation, known as Boston Chicken until 1995, is an American fast casual restaurant chain headquartered in Golden, Colorado. It is owned by the Rohan Group. Boston Market has its greatest presence in the Northeastern and Midwest ...

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food Fast food is a type of mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. It is a commercial term, limited to food sold ...

Pollo Campero Pollo Campero is a fast-food restaurant chain, located in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Mexico, Spain, Bahrain, Belize, Haiti, Montserrat, the British Virgin Islands, Africa, Brazil, Canada, and Italy. The chai ...

Taco Bell Taco Bell is an American-based chain of fast food restaurants founded in 1962 by Glen Bell (1923–2010) in Downey, California. Taco Bell is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. The restaurants serve a variety of Mexican-inspired foods, incl ...

(which introduced its Chicken Sandwich Taco), Bojangles,

Panera Bread Panera Bread is an American chain store of bakery-café fast casual restaurants with over 2,000 locations, all of which are in the United States and Canada. Its headquarters are in Sunset Hills, Missouri. The company operates as Saint Lou ...

Burger King Burger King (BK) is an American-based multinational chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida–based restaurant c ...

, and

Panda Express Panda Express is an American fast food restaurant chain that serves American Chinese cuisine. With over 2,200 locations, it is the largest Asian-segment restaurant chain in the United States, where it was founded, and is mainly located in North ...

(which introduced its Orange Chicken Sandwich). In a July 2021 marketing stunt,

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candy also introduced a limited edition, novelty chicken sandwich in conjunction with Chicago restaurant Frances' Deli & Brunchery. The sandwich was served on a bun made out of the sour candy.

called for a truce on July 28, 2021, as part of a promotion for a "We Come in Piece" 8 piece chicken nugget menu item. Popeyes further purchased $1,000,000 of chicken nuggets from its competitors, and donated these to the Second Harvest Bank of Greater New Orleans and Acadiana.

Economic impact

According to Edison Trends, "online spending on chicken sandwiches across all restaurants in this analysis combined grew 420% between January 2019 and December 2020." This was likely driven by the shift toward online spending during the pandemic. In April 2021, McDonald's franchisees were selling about 262 chicken sandwiches per day. Due to the onset and intensity of the Chicken Sandwich Wars, combined with existing supply chain disruptions brought by the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, shortages of chicken were reported in the United States beginning in the spring of 2021. The National Chicken Council sought to allay public concerns about disruptions to the nation's

poultry Poultry () are domesticated birds kept by humans for their eggs, their meat or their feathers. These birds are most typically members of the superorder Galloanserae (fowl), especially the order Galliformes (which includes chickens, quail ...

supply, with a council spokesperson stating in May of that year that there was "a very tight supply but short of a shortage". The same month, the price of chicken in the United States reached a three-year record high, with the pricing surge principally attributed by ''

The Birmingham News ''The Birmingham News'' is the principal newspaper for Birmingham, Alabama, United States. The paper is owned by Advance Publications and was a daily newspaper from its founding through September 30, 2012. After that day, the ''News'' and its two ...

'' to the Chicken Sandwich Wars. Popeyes, meanwhile, began stockpiling chicken in advance of a planned summer menu expansion.

History

Economic impact

See also

References

Further reading