![](\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2021\/02\/23\/business\/23chickensandwichwars-02\/23chickensandwichwars-02-articleLarge.jpg\")
<\/p>\nOne of the fiercest food-world fights in recent years has featured fast-food chains vying for supremacy over who can most successfully serve up a fried breast of chicken between two pieces of bread. This week, the battle will heat up again as McDonald\u2019s finally enters the fray with its own take on the crispy chicken sandwich.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, McDonald\u2019s is releasing three versions: original, spicy and deluxe, with lettuce and tomato.<\/p>\n
McDonald\u2019s knows burgers. Its Big Mac is recognized all around the globe. But the Golden Arches is years behind its peers in developing a truly competitive chicken sandwich, much to the frustration of many of its franchise owners.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been clamoring for it,\u201d said Blake Casper, who owns dozens of McDonald\u2019s restaurants in Florida and is chairman of the National Owners Association, an independent group of franchisees. \u201cWe\u2019ve definitely been needing this focus on a chicken sandwich. We\u2019re thrilled that we\u2019re finally getting very serious about this category.\u201d<\/p>\n
In recent years, American fast-food customers have embraced chicken and, in particular, so-called Southern-style chicken sandwiches. Consumers in the United States ordered 2.6 billion of the crispy, juicy sandwiches last year, according to the NPD Group, a research firm. Fried chicken sandwiches were the second-most ordered item on the DoorDash platform, just behind chicken fingers, last year.<\/p>\n
A bevy of fast-food restaurants \u2014 Wendy\u2019s, Burger King, Shake Shack \u2014 have jumped on the crispy chicken-sandwich bandwagon, releasing or making plans to release new chicken sandwiches. Even Taco Bell is riding the wave, debuting a combination chicken sandwich\/taco next month in limited markets.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
For years, the leader of the category was Chick-fil-A, which created its original chicken sandwich \u2014 with two pickles and a toasted, buttered bun \u2014 in 1964.<\/p>\n
Privately held and based in Atlanta, Chick-fil-A posted sales of $11 billion in 2019, according to an annual ranking of restaurant chains by QSR Magazine. That was dwarfed by McDonald\u2019s $40 billion in U.S. systemwide sales that year, but the 2,500 Chick-fil-A franchise locations around the country averaged more than $4.5 million in sales in 2019. That\u2019s well above the average sales of $2.9 million for the nearly 14,000 McDonald\u2019s restaurants in the United States \u2014 and is even more impressive given the fact that Chick-fil-A stores are closed on Sundays.<\/p>\n
But the chicken-sandwich battle really started in the summer of 2019, when Popeyes introduced its own fried-chicken sandwich (brioche bun, with pickles). Within days, Popeyes locations around the country saw lines stretched out their doors, and the sandwich became a viral knockout. It became so popular that the chain sold out of months of supply within two weeks and had to pull the sandwich from its menu for more than two months to secure ingredients and negotiate with its suppliers.<\/p>\n
Thanks in large part to the popularity of its chicken sandwich, Popeyes\u2019 comparable-store sales grew nearly 18 percent in 2020 from the year before, compared with an 11 percent decline at Burger King. Burger King, which, like Popeyes, is owned by Restaurant Brands International, is introducing its own take on the crispy chicken sandwich this year.<\/p>\n
McDonald\u2019s journey into chicken sandwiches dates to 2008, when it introduced the Southern Style Chicken Sandwich. That was a fried chicken fillet served on a hamburger bun with pickles, an offering some said looked suspiciously like Chick-fil-A\u2019s signature sandwich. The McDonald\u2019s version was discontinued in 2015.<\/p>\n
About four years ago, executives at McDonald\u2019s decided it was time to try again.<\/p>\n
Using the Southern Style Chicken sandwich as a starting point, chefs and a handful of franchise owners began weekly visits to the company\u2019s kitchens in Chicago to meet with suppliers.<\/p>\n
First came the chicken breast. \u201cWe looked at the Southern Chicken sandwich and knew it had to be modernized, reimagined from how it was,\u201d said John Link, who began working at McDonald\u2019s 50 years ago when he was 15 and today owns 13 restaurants in the Hickory, N.C., area.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would have 10 different profiles of sandwiches on a big table and we would take a bite and then rank the sandwiches,\u201d Mr. Link said. \u201cWe narrowed it down to two fillets. The suppliers were there and listened to what we were saying. I probably took six or eight trips to Chicago working on that fillet, just to get it right.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the fillet, the focus turned to the bun. Fifteen to 20 varieties of buns and rolls were considered. More sandwiches were made and taste-tested. \u201cIt was tons of buns,\u201d Mr. Link said.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, McDonald\u2019s decided, for the first time, to use a potato roll for one of its sandwiches. The roll is toasted with a creamy butter, dispensed through new warmers that are being installed in the restaurants.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s sweet and buttery, a really nice complement to the savory of the chicken,\u201d said Linda VanGosen, the head of U.S. menu strategy at McDonald\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Last, but not least, came the two pickles. \u201cI learned a lot about pickles,\u201d Mr. Link said with a laugh, explaining that the crinkle-cut pickle McDonald\u2019s uses means more crunch and more pickle flavor on the sandwich.<\/p>\n
Instead of the cardboard boxes that McDonald\u2019s uses for most of its sandwiches, the original Crispy Chicken sandwich and the spicy version will be served in a foil bag.<\/p>\n
By late 2019, the new chicken sandwich was being tested in restaurants in Houston and Knoxville, Tenn. After successful test runs, plans were set to release the sandwiches last summer. But those plans were sidelined as the coronavirus pandemic swept across the country and franchise owners were focused on keeping their doors open and employees safe.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur attention needed to be on serving our customers,\u201d Ms. VanGosen said. \u201cIt was just not the right time to launch.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Link said the sandwich would be worth the wait.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m pretty passionate about chicken. Being from the South, I eat a lot of chicken,\u201d he said. \u201cI wanted a sandwich that, when I ate that sandwich, I wanted to take another bite.\u201d<\/p>\n