Small Chicken Chains Register Strong Growth

Bojangles, Chick-fil-A, Church's, Popeyes and Zaxby's are eating away at KFC's market share.

May 04, 2010

CHICAGO - Chicken chains are growing like gangbusters these days, Advertising Age reports. During 2009, Bojangles, Chick-fil-A, Church??s, Popeyes and Zaxby??s all registered growth both in sales and market share.

For example, Chick-fil-A has 1,500 stores that average $3 million in gross sales, despite being closed on Sundays. Leader KFC has seen its market share drop close to 6 points since 2005, shedding two points in 2009 alone, according to Technomic.

Chick-fil-A, once a regional hit, has morphed into a national wonder. The chain has kept its focus on chicken sandwiches and customer service, sticking to its "Eat Mor Chikin" ad campaign for the past 15 years. The company trains its cashiers in politeness, having them say "Yes, ma??am" and "It??s my pleasure to serve you." Chick-fil-A sales jumped 9 percent in 2009 to reach $3.2 billion.

Popeyes chief marketer Dick Lynch wanted to capitalize on the brand??s "great culinary heritage" by going back to its roots, which for Popeyes meant its Louisiana heritage. The chain renamed itself Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and added a fluer de lis in place of a cartoon chicken logo.

Bojangles has kept its core menu of chicken and biscuits since 1977, with "a few new items??added in response to industry trends," its Web site proclaims. The chain??s sales soared 9 percent in 2009 to reach $660 million. Both Bojangles and Church??s Chicken (owned by Popeyes parent company, AFC enterprises) have remained true to their core mission.

"They??re remaining with who they are and what they mean to their consumer, and they??re focused on that rather than being different things to different people," said Darren Tristano, executive vice president of Technomic.

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