Chicken bumps beef, hogs burger chain menus
McDonald's is finishing a national rollout of its new Premium Chicken Sandwiches this week. Company marketing execs are all aflutter about an expected poultry inspired sales spike in all 13,700 U.S. units.
The "premium" sandwiches will kill off lesser quality McGrills and give them a product they can throw at those upstart Chic-fil-A boys in Atlanta. It’s also a better piece of artillery to use in the chicken wars they’re fighting with the other burger chains (Editor’s note: watching new fast food product roll outs – all of which seem to be chicken based - makes me think burger chains are facing self extinction).
McD's CFO Matthew Paull told investors during their recent quarterly earnings conference that the Oak Brook oracles will “enhance our product relevance by listening to our customer and responding." (Editor's note: that customer isn't asking for burgers?)
How important are chicken sandwiches to the burger meister’s bottom line? Chicken sales jumped from $2.7 billion in 2002 to $4.3 billion last year to reach a bit under a third of their menu sales.
Hard on McD’s heels is a chicken-borne cavalry charge by competition like Burger King and Wendy's. Burger King just finished a national launch of their Chicken Fries three weeks ago. The all-white-meat chicken strips are formed to look like French fries, a concept developed by a beef marketer at the turn of the century that went no where in the red meat business.
Wendy's, an ersatz burger chain that long ago joined the chicken crusade, saw sales increase when they menued Homestyle Chicken Strips and Chicken Temptations. They’re busy cooking up new poultry inspired products, too. No word on new beef products that might be stuck in their developmental pipeline.
Want more proof that the beef industry is in trouble with the main stream restaurant biz? West coast chain Jack in the Box reports their new Ciabatta Chicken line on Italian-style rolls is a hot seller. Subway, the largest quick service restaurant chain in the U.S. (when you count number of stores) is pushing a grilled-chicken sub as a "fresh" alternative to burger chains' chicken sandwiches and fast-growing sub shop Quiznos reacted by promoting their own Chicken Milano sandwich.
All is not rosy in the sit-down, semi-service restaurants, either. New England chain Friendly's – known for its ice cream more than its food - has just added four baskets and a platter entrée on their existing chicken menu; a Firecracker Chicken Basket, an Oriental Sesame Chicken Basket, the Honey BBQ Chicken Basket, and a BBQ Chicken Platter (Editor’s note: Clara Peller, where are you?).
The "premium" sandwiches will kill off lesser quality McGrills and give them a product they can throw at those upstart Chic-fil-A boys in Atlanta. It’s also a better piece of artillery to use in the chicken wars they’re fighting with the other burger chains (Editor’s note: watching new fast food product roll outs – all of which seem to be chicken based - makes me think burger chains are facing self extinction).
McD's CFO Matthew Paull told investors during their recent quarterly earnings conference that the Oak Brook oracles will “enhance our product relevance by listening to our customer and responding." (Editor's note: that customer isn't asking for burgers?)
How important are chicken sandwiches to the burger meister’s bottom line? Chicken sales jumped from $2.7 billion in 2002 to $4.3 billion last year to reach a bit under a third of their menu sales.
Hard on McD’s heels is a chicken-borne cavalry charge by competition like Burger King and Wendy's. Burger King just finished a national launch of their Chicken Fries three weeks ago. The all-white-meat chicken strips are formed to look like French fries, a concept developed by a beef marketer at the turn of the century that went no where in the red meat business.
Wendy's, an ersatz burger chain that long ago joined the chicken crusade, saw sales increase when they menued Homestyle Chicken Strips and Chicken Temptations. They’re busy cooking up new poultry inspired products, too. No word on new beef products that might be stuck in their developmental pipeline.
Want more proof that the beef industry is in trouble with the main stream restaurant biz? West coast chain Jack in the Box reports their new Ciabatta Chicken line on Italian-style rolls is a hot seller. Subway, the largest quick service restaurant chain in the U.S. (when you count number of stores) is pushing a grilled-chicken sub as a "fresh" alternative to burger chains' chicken sandwiches and fast-growing sub shop Quiznos reacted by promoting their own Chicken Milano sandwich.
All is not rosy in the sit-down, semi-service restaurants, either. New England chain Friendly's – known for its ice cream more than its food - has just added four baskets and a platter entrée on their existing chicken menu; a Firecracker Chicken Basket, an Oriental Sesame Chicken Basket, the Honey BBQ Chicken Basket, and a BBQ Chicken Platter (Editor’s note: Clara Peller, where are you?).
posted by Chuck Jolley at Saturday, August 27, 2005
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