i don't like my chickens live okay i like them dead deep fried you ever heard popeyes upon its
release the popeye's fried chicken sandwich became a social media sensation after quickly selling out
so let's bite into 10 ways popeye's chicken sandwich changed fast food things have changed
mega marketing sell me this pen the goal of any new menu item introduced by a fast food
chain is to increase sales not only the sales of the particular item but sales
in general by getting more people to come to the stores when popeyes introduced their fried
chicken sandwich in august of 2019 they were hoping they had a hit on its hands but popeye
wasn't quite prepared for how big the reaction would be the fast food chain's august sales
jumped 20 percent with the introduction of the new sandwich this number would have been even
higher but the fried chicken sandwich sold out in two weeks i need more i want more
popeye's redoubled its efforts and relaunched the sandwich in november and its sales jumped even
more the second time around apex marketing group one of the top firms in the field estimated that
the publicity generated on social media by people who loved the new sandwich handed the fast food
chain 65 million dollars in equivalent media value or basically that amount of free advertising
popeyes likes free things too so it knew it had something it could use to generate even more sales
this unexpected marketing prowess is one of the ways popeye's chicken sandwich changed fast food
expanding the brand we're growing we're expanding popeye's chicken is a successful fast food chain
but it isn't in the same league with giants like mcdonald's and kfc any chance a relatively modest
chain has to expand its brand is an opportunity it has to embrace popeyes embraced the fuhrer
on social media that was caused by the release of its fried chicken sandwich in august of 2019. the
chain used the interest in the sandwich to expand traffic to popeye's locations and increase sales
if you went to popeyes for the sandwich you probably bought fries and a drink as well
yeah but i love to eat more importantly however the publicity that was generated by the sandwich
drove new customers to popeyes customers who had never been to popeyes and had no intention to go
until they heard about the chicken sandwich after the release of the sandwich customer
traffic increased at the fast food chain by triple digits according to marketing research
fast food customers are a pretty loyal bunch and stick to their favorite places
popeye's chicken sandwich changed this dynamic with people who never had any interest in going
to popeyes suddenly making a special trip just to try the sandwich access is everything gary giggles
even the bigwigs at popeyes were caught off guard by the viral success of its fried
chicken sandwich when it debuted in the summer of 2019. numerous social media posts and local
news outlets documented customers waiting in long lines outside their local popeyes for a
chance to buy a fried chicken sandwich too many customers were disappointed and within
two weeks the fast food chain had run out of the widely sought after sandwich this situation put
a spotlight on popeye's capacity to serve its customers this scrutiny and the improvements
that resulted because of it is another way popeye's chicken sandwich changed fast food
this is revolution kevin fortunately for popeyes and its customers the chain had already expanded
the number of stores it operates to 3 400. while that many locations may seem impressive
its small potatoes compared to the big fast food chains that operate tens of thousands of
locations spread around the globe however the expansion did substantially increase
customers access to popeyes even though the fried chicken sandwich was unavailable for a few months
after it sold out the buzz generated by its debut had people talking about popeyes anyway
the sandwich war will be tasty and i'm ready for war popeyes has been around
for decades and is best known for its fried chicken and biscuits the fast food chain has
co-existed with other chicken chains like kfc and chick-fil-a without too much drama however
popeye's release of a new menu item in 2019 sparked the so-called chicken sandwich wars
the gloves were dropped and the competition was on like with any war it's important to know who
fired the first shot and in this case it seems as though it was chick-fil-a even though other fast
food chains such as burger king and wendy's offer chicken sandwiches most of them were more focused
on selling their hamburgers big hamburgers small hamburgers too chick-fil-a was used to being the
king of the fast food chicken sandwich but heavy is the head that wears the chicken sandwich crown
popeyes fired a shot across chick-fil-a's brow with the surprise introduction of its own fried
chicken sandwich and the immediate popularity of this sandwich was a direct threat to popeye's
competitors because some people who were loyal hamburger customers changed their behavior some
of them passed on the usual burgers so they could go to popeyes and sample the new chicken sandwich
quality counts made in a rush this is quality control some people don't think quality when
they think about fast food but the truth is there is some very good fast food out there
and some not so good fast food customers can tell the difference and not surprisingly they
prefer to spend their money on good food popeye's chicken has been known for making things like good
drumsticks popcorn chicken and biscuits when the chicken chain debuted its fried chicken sandwich
some people were skeptical however this skepticism soon turned to love for many people who tried it
the sandwich is made with fried chicken breast topped with pickles the brioche bun is a cut
above the average fast food bun micro greens on a gluten-free brioche bun apparently popeye's chefs
went out of their way to use a special buttermilk batter as well as a particular flower that would
give the chicken an extra crunchy texture in other words this fried chicken sandwich unexpectedly
raised the bar people responded to the quality of the sandwich by buying them a lot of them they
bought the sandwich in surprisingly big numbers and some people attribute the monster sales to the
social media coverage it received the coverage certainly helped quite a bit but the sandwich
wouldn't have been a phenomenon if it wasn't a good product to begin with big chicken how big
huge fast food chains that focus on chicken like popeyes chick-fil-a and kentucky fried
chicken have always operated in the shadow of the hamburger giants like mcdonald's and burger king
despite the continued dominance of beef in the fast food industry americans have tripled their
consumption of chicken since 1960. the big chains have offered chicken sandwiches for decades now
but their own creators have always treated them as second fiddle with the success of popeye's
fried chicken sandwich the fast food industry is on notice that chicken sandwiches can be a
centerpiece of the menu the chains will likely put an emphasis on taste but also try to convince
customers that chicken can be a healthier option than beef listen to me they can't push this line
too much because they can't afford to undermine the appeal of their hamburgers it seems clear
that chicken will continue to make up a bigger part of the menus with everything from chicken
tenders to chicken nuggets as well as a selection of chicken sandwiches a grilled chicken sandwich
with some lettuce and tomato would probably be one of the healthier choices you could make at a fast
food chain but they don't seem to be very popular the truth is fried chicken sandwiches tastes a
lot better than grilled chicken sandwiches and this probably isn't going to change fast food
phenomenon yeah i heard there was legendary marketing and advertising firms dream about
coming up with a campaign for a product that would garner half the attention popeye's fried
chicken sandwich received for free in the age of social media customers took it upon themselves
to give their take on the new item and generated an astounding amount of publicity after popeye's
new chicken sandwich was boosted to success by customers raving about it on social media fast
food companies began to realize they didn't have to rely so much on expensive advertising campaigns
instead they started directing more of their energy towards social media where millions of
people are happy to tell you what they think of just about anything just my two cents a viral post
or clip could be more effective than advertising on television and in print social media is what
the kids are doing so it has a coolness factor compared to legacy media the success of popeye's
fried chicken sandwich is inextricably linked to the viral reaction it received on social media
in 2019 popeyes and its competitors all learned how much of an asset the various platforms are
so now there is no going back these social media platforms will only play a bigger role in the fast
food chain's marketing efforts byob the invitation said byob introducing a product that is so popular
with your customers that you run out of said product after two weeks is a pretty good problem
to have but it is still a problem popeye's fried chicken sandwich went viral when it was released
but the fast food chain wasn't fully prepared for the prospect of its monstrous success when
the fast food chain ran out of buns it had to think fast to its credit popeyes came up with
a clever idea with tongue-in-cheek the chain told customers to bring their own buns to the store to
make the sandwich you can cook right after all the stores still had plenty of fried chicken tenders
even though the brioche buns were sold out this bring your own bun byob promotion was a funny way
to deflect from the disappointing shortage of buns and generated even more publicity about the fried
chicken sandwich even while customers couldn't get the sandwich they wanted this new level
of self-deprecating humor was one of the ways popeye's chicken sandwich changed fast food you
might be wondering if anyone actually showed up at a popeyes with their own bun expecting to build a
fried chicken sandwich while there's no real proof anyone did show up with their own bun would you be
surprised if a few people did probably not the new hamburger a new one unbelievable hamburgers
have been the foundation of most fast food chains since the beginning sandwiches like mcdonald's big
mac or bk's whopper are household names and it seemed like beef burgers would always be king
however the phenomenal success of popeye's fried chicken sandwich may have been the
beginning of a new focus on chicken sandwiches that someday could unseat the mighty burger
popeye's fried chicken sandwich has definitely put a lot of attention on this hamburger alternative
and has instigated a race among the other fast food chains to build a chicken sandwich that
can rival the popularity of hamburgers all the popular chains seem to be highlighting chicken
sandwiches on their menus you changed the game for everyone sarah grilled chicken sandwiches
have been marketed as a healthier alternative to hamburgers but fried chicken sandwiches can often
be higher in fat and calories than hamburgers it seems unlikely that chicken sandwiches will
ever surpass iconic hamburgers like burger king's whopper but it is tilly that at the moment this
burger chain has a total of seven different kinds of chicken sandwiches on its menu to choose from
it also offers chicken fries and chicken nuggets at some point will burger king become the home of
the chicken sandwich instead of the home of the whopper back to the drawing board
you need to go back to the beginning businesses often borrow ideas from one another and the highly
competitive fast food industry is certainly no exception fast food chains sell a lot of similar
menu items because they're all trying to cater to the same basic tastes of consumers it seems
like popeye's competitors were caught off guard by the introduction of its fried chicken sandwich
and by its enormous success if imitation really is the sincerest form of flattery then many of the
fast food chains flattered popeyes quite a bit i'm the king competitors such as mcdonald's taco bell
and wendy's all went back to their kitchens and got to work on their own chicken sandwiches
before too long wendy's came out with an offering called the classic chicken sandwich
this proved to be a decent menu item at wendy's but it did not get anywhere near the reaction the
popeye's sandwich got mcdonald's gave it a try as well by putting out a new chicken sandwich
however according to one taste test the mcdonald's offering was inferior to popeye's sandwich social
media salvos we should post something on social media the feud between popeyes and chick-fil-a
playing out on social media actually started in the kitchens of the two fast food chains
dueling chicken sandwiches went toe-to-toe on social media where the public battle was fought
however this was only possible after both fast food chains had spent many hours experimenting
with ingredients and recipes that would produce a chicken sandwich their customers just had to have
sites like twitter played an important even outsized role in the chicken sandwich wars
of 2019. well for one thing it's all over twitter it was actually chick-fil-a that fired the first
shot on twitter with a mild critique of popeye's new fried chicken sandwich after that it was open
season with loyal customers from both fried chicken sandwich camps posting their thoughts
about their beloved chicken sandwich of choice the social media exchanges continued fast and furious
even after the sandwich sold out after two weeks these combatants are ripe to launch the next big
fast food item so we'll just have to wait and see what it is searching for another
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