Chicken is in play. Consumers are eating it differently and restaurants — especially in the quick-service segment — are responding with a host of new offerings.
KFC’s introduction of grilled chicken last year resulted in a marked drop in sales of bone-in fried chicken, according to market research firm The NPD Group. And since then several operators have unveiled new incarnations of America’s favorite fowl.
Most recently, KFC grabbed headlines with its bunless Double Down, El Pollo Loco put sandwiches on its permanent menu for the first time, Boston Market included a chicken sandwich in its new line of sliders, and Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen is rolling out a new type of chicken strip as a limited-time offer to its entire global system — more than 1,900 restaurants in 27 countries — starting in June.
Popeyes’ Wicked Chicken is thinly sliced, marinated chicken strips that are breaded, fried and served in curly, kinky shapes.
“It’s a new way of cutting the chicken that’s thinner and longer,” said Amy Alarcon, who has been Popeyes’ director of culinary innovation since 2007. The strips curl up when they’re fried, and are served by weight rather than number of strips with a biscuit, a side of fries and two sauces — a cool ranch dipping sauce and a miniature bottle of hot pepper sauce — for $3.99.
“We’re not looking for cookie-cutter shapes and sizes,” Alarcon said. “It’s kind of a fun, new way to look at doing boneless chicken that’s not just another nugget or strip or boneless wing. It’s kind of a don’t-take-yourself-too-seriously way of eating chicken.”
She added, “The shape’s really defined by the natural shape of the breast, so there’s no waste.”
The item has other conservationist qualities as well. Not only is the entire breast of chicken used, but Popeyes is partnering with a hot-sauce producer and using leftover hot peppers from the sauce as the base for the Wicked Chicken marinade.
Garlic and onion flavor is added as well, Alarcon said. The result is a bold, medium-spicy portable meal whose flavor can be turned up by the hot sauce that’s provided with it.
The item is available through June, and some units will continue the offering into July.
Alarcon said the item tested well, with 75 percent of customers giving it a rating of “extreme satisfaction” in in-store intercepts.
Still flying out the door
Nonetheless, breaded chicken strip sales are way down for the year ended March 10, according to NPD.
Bonnie Riggs, NPD’s restaurant industry analyst, said sales in all “obviously fried” chicken items are down. Bone-in fried chicken is down 13 percent, breaded chicken sandwiches are down 7 percent and strips are down 10 percent. Sales of wings, which are often fried, although customers don’t necessarily know that, are up by 4 percent, and nonfried chicken sales are up by 8 percent.
Riggs points out that, although chicken sandwich sales overall are down by 7 percent, they were up by 9 percent last year, so they’re still up from 2008.
She attributes this year’s decline both to the current buzz about hamburgers and to customers attempting to save money by moving away from combo-meals, where chicken is a popular choice, and toward the burgers available on dollar menus.
Still, Mark Hardison, vice president of marketing for the El Pollo Loco chain, which specializes in citrus-marinated, grilled chicken, says his company is “very pleased” by customers’ responses to the two chicken sandwiches, which were introduced on May 1 for $4.29. He said the sandwiches are a response to customers’ requests for more offerings and are inspired by a traditional Mexican style of sandwich called a torta.
The sandwiches are served on thick, soft rolls with shredded lettuce and pico de gallo and a choice of guacamole or a combination of pepper Jack cheese, a Southwestern-style chipotle sauce and sliced pickled jalapeños.
Also in May, Boston Market launched a line of sliders in three flavors, including barbecue chicken and cheddar, meat loaf and cheddar, and turkey and Swiss cheese. They are available for $2.99 for three throughout the month, and will be added to the chain’s regular menu in June for $3.99 for three, or one for $1.49.
Lane Cardwell, the chain’s president and chief executive, said the chicken has been outselling the other two sliders two-to-one.
“We thought something like a slider should have a little bit more flavor than a normal chicken dish,” Cardwell said, explaining the addition of barbecue sauce, which is used to flavor hand-pulled meat from the roasted bird. “Because you’re probably younger if you’re ordering a slider,” and younger customers tend to lean toward bolder flavor profiles, he said.
Hold the bun
The most highly publicized rollout of the year no doubt is KFC’s Double Down, a sandwich in which chicken patties, either fried or grilled, are used as the bun, with cheese, bacon and a zesty sauce between them.
Company spokesman Rick Maynard said he anticipated the tremendous amount of publicity the item has generated, including attacks from public health groups who have criticized it as unhealthful despite the fact that it contains around the same number of calories as the signature sandwiches from the major burger chains.
Maynard said the idea for the “sandwich” came from surveys KFC did of customers from competing restaurants, who said there wasn’t enough chicken in chicken sandwiches.
“Our team came up with a unique idea to solve that issue,” Maynard said.
Contact Bret Thorn at bthorn@nrn.com
