Burger King (
QSR) on Wednesday jumped into the widening chicken wars with a new hand-breaded sandwich -- just as McDonald's is expected to debut its own version, and on the same day Wendy's rolled out an update to its menu item.
The battlefield for the hearts and stomachs of consumers is growing more fierce, with a clutch of fast food giants unveiling competitors for Popeye's wildly popular sandwich. As a result, Burger King is planning to release the item nationwide later this year, after a lengthy testing process that began in 2019.
Ellie Doty, chief marketing officer of Burger King, North America, told Yahoo Finance in an interview that the company took its time in an effort to "get it right."
She added: "For us, hand-breading is to chicken what flame-grilling is to burgers so we’ve been working to perfect this hand-breaded chicken sandwich since 2019 from operations to training procedures, we’re focused on getting it right for our guests.”
The company's sandwich includes a white meat chicken breast that is breaded by hand, then served on potato bun with deli pickles, "signature sauce" and available "your way" both original or spicy.
(Courtesy: Burger King)
Meanwhile, the chicken sandwich war continues to heat up across the fast food industry, with Wendy's (
WEN) unveiling a savory newcomer to its chicken sandwich lineup: the Jalapeño Popper Sandwich.
The sandwich, available nationwide for a limited time, comes in three iterations: Classic, spicy and grilled. The classic version retails for $5.99, and is slathered with jalapeños and flavored cream cheese, along with three slices of bacon and cheddar and pepper jack cheeses. Along with the sandwich, the fast food chain also released a $6.79 fried chicken salad topped with creamy jalapeño ranch.
>>> The obvious... Chickens.... It seems like a big year for Chickens unless you are a Chicken. Then it's a bad year. Is there a Chicken play...
