CHICAGO -- September may be National Chicken Month, but chicken is a go-to item for promotion at restaurants and convenience stores all year long. Arguably a menu’s most adaptable platform for flavor innovation, chicken’s versatility presents a multitude of opportunities for creativity and cross-utilization.
Quick-service restaurants (QSRs) and fast casuals industrywide are capitalizing on the latest chicken trends. Data from Technomic’s Digital Resource Library show that some of the fastest-growing limited-service chains are chicken brands. Year-over-year sales in 2015 for the chicken industry rose 8%, and Technomic predicts the chicken industry to sustain that rate of growth through 2016 and beyond.
Consumers are flocking to these chicken restaurants for better-for-you takes on an American favorite, whether that’s ethnic-inspired chicken, never-frozen chicken tenders, freshly hand-battered bone-in varieties or marinated grilled chicken.
Three prime examples of fast-growing chicken concepts are Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers, PDQ and Nando’s. Each brand possesses its own unique approach in terms of both menu and concept positioning, from higher-quality menu offerings to eclectic ambiance.
A few takeaways from these findings include:
- Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers has a simple, approachable menu of fresh food combined with a family-friendly, pop culture-themed setting. The appealing combination of atmosphere and craveable food has propelled Raising Cane’s growth, with the latest year-over-year sales and number of units up 26% and 18%, respectively.
- PDQ operates primarily in the South but is expanding to the North and West, leading to a 2015 year-over-year growth in sales and units of 61% and 52%, respectively.
- Nando’s also has been expanding in the U.S., with year-over-year U.S. sales and unit growths of 33% and 40%, respectively. Nando’s offers a truly unique product, specializing in South African-Portuguese-style peri-peri pepper chicken in a range of spice levels.
This growth story gives regional and up-and-coming chicken chains good reason to continue to be optimistic about the future of the category. The fact that consumers are rewarding these emerging brands with visits and loyalty speaks to the overarching appeal of simplicity, freshness and some flavor variation (particularly in terms of heat and spice) when it comes to chicken.
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