Chick-fil-A continued its reign as the leader of the growing Chicken segment.

It was a good year for the Chicken segment, with seven of the nine largest chains enjoying growth in systemwide sales of 6.8 percent or more. Overall, the segment grew by nearly 4 percent, despite a 6.7-percent decline in sales by No. 2 chain KFC.

That decline, coupled with Chick-fil-A’s sales growth of 9.4 percent, further cemented Chick-fil-A’s standing, achieved in 2012, as the nation’s largest chicken chain. In the year ended
December 2013, Chick-fil-A’s sales outpaced KFC’s by nearly $800 million.

The only Chicken chain within the Top 100 besides KFC whose sales fell was Church’s Chicken, which was bumped from 5th place to 6th place in the segment by Bojangles’ Famous Chicken ‘n Biscuits. Bojangles’ enjoyed 6.8-percent sales growth in the Latest Year.

Wingstop saw the biggest growth in sales, with a nearly 20-percent systemwide increase due to both added units and higher estimated sales per unit, or ESPU.

The Dallas-based chain, which specializes in wings and batter-fried chicken strips, posted ESPU growth of 9.1 percent in the Latest Year and added a net 56 units, boosting its total number of locations to 589.

Data

• Top 100 Rankings and Results

“The quality of our brand partners is exceptional,” said Flynn Dekker, chief marketing officer of Wingstop, noting that its top-notch franchisees attracted others to the brand.

This year marks 11 consecutive years of same-store sales increases, Dekker said. He attributed the chain’s success to being
“hyper focused” on its target — 18- to 24-year-olds — and sticking to what it knows: selling chicken. Different sauce flavors keep the product interesting to customers, he added.

Social media figures into Wingstop’s strategy as well. The chain’s Facebook followers have increased by 85 percent in the past year, and its number of Twitter followers doubled in the past year. Dekker and his team work with the brand’s agency partners to make sure someone is always managing Wingstop’s digital presence.

“They’re always paying attention, always listening,” he said.

Wingstop has also discovered new ways to engage with its fanbase. Last fall, for example, when Wingstop ended its limited-time offer of a mango-habañero sauce, there was a widespread call among fans on social media to bring it back.

In response, Wingstop created a smartphone application that enabled customers to vote on their favorite flavor. Those who volunteered their addresses on the app and voted for mango-habañero were sent a kit with a bandana, T-shirt and other paraphernalia, along with invitations to be the first ones to sample the sauce when it was brought back this month.

As a result, people who were initially upset by the loss of their favorite sauce were brought back as enthusiastic fans.

“Instead of having a difficult situation, we’ve turned them into true brand advocates,” Dekker said.

Boston Market, which enjoyed 9.9-
percent growth in ESPU in the Latest Year — earning it the top spot for ESPU growth among Chicken chains — took a different approach, expanding its offerings with the introduction of St. Louis-style ribs and more better-for-you options, upgrading its plateware and cutlery, and improving its service by adding two jobs to each restaurant — guest ambassador and product ambassador — whose responsibilities are to focus on customer service.

“We’ve had some great success with menu innovation,” chief executive George Michel said, noting that the ribs that were first introduced as an LTO in April 2013 accounted for between 16 percent and 18 percent of sales.

“With that kind of a success story, we’d be remiss to remove it from the menu,” he said, noting that the ribs continued to account for 9.5 percent of the sales mix for the rest of that year.

Golden, Colo.-based Boston Market also reduced its rate of unit shrinkage in the Latest Year and opened its first new location in seven years, in Hialeah, Fla.

Michel said he planned to open six new units this year, and between 10 and 12 in 2015.

By the numbers

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Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected].
Follow him on Twitter: @foodwriterdiary