Food & Beverage

How fried chicken is laying 'golden eggs' across US

Wanna know what fried chicken brand got the most store visits in 2020? Read on.

Top Data identified the top fried chicken brands by visits since the pandemic in some of its most recent analyses. (Image: Provided)

January 8, 2021

Inspired by the launch of new chicken sandwiches by five major limited-service brands — McDonald's Shake Shack, Sonic, KFC, Popeyes and Chick-fil-A — Top Data analysts revealed this week which brands were garnering the most sales.

The global firm based in Tokyo compared traffic data to visits to traditional burger-dedicated brads and found that fried chicken-centered brands have literally been laying golden eggs for restaurant operators during the pandemic.

While physical visits to fast-food restaurants have fallen 23% since last March, fried chicken chains have only seen a 6% reduction in visits. Burger-centered brands, however, reported 15% fewer visits.

The analysis revealed that within the fried chicken sector, KFC remained king of the coop for traffic, coming out on top of all limited-service visits in 14 states. Church's Chicken was the second most-popular fried chicken chain nationally, reigning supreme for customer visits in nine states, followed by Raising Canes, which did so in eight states, according to the company's report.

The data, however, only covered the number of restaurant visits without portraying which chain was selling the most fried chicken sandwiches — the menu items at the vortex of all the chicken sandwich war commotion — but the data was enlightening as to chicken's overall popularity in the pandemic, nonetheless.

Another notable Top Data finding was that one of the original players in the Chicken Sandwich Wars — Chick-fil-A — saw a 23% increase in spend at its restaurants since the pandemic began in the U.S. Still, Chick-fil-A failed to register No. 1 in a single state for restaurant visits.

And one final bit of chicken-related curiosity from Top's findings revolved around KFC, founded and headquartered in Kentucky, where it failed to rank in the top-three favored fried chicken chain by visits. Instead, it took No. 4 after Bojangles (No. 1), Zaxby's (No. 2) and Popeyes (No. 3).

Somewhere a tear falls on Col. Sanders string-tie.