The viral popularity of the Popeyes chicken sandwich has ultimately led to a significant depletion in the supply of small chickens.
When Popeyes’ new chicken sandwich hit the scene, an online debate quickly arose of whether or not the new sandwich has supplanted Chik-fil-A’s chicken sandwich as “the best.” The debate raged on and suddenly the new Popeyes chicken sandwich was in such high demand that the restaurant ran out of supplies for it and had to temporarily take it off of the menu.
Several other restaurants, such as McDonald’s, tried to capitalize on the popularity by offering their own versions of chicken sandwiches and the supply of small chickens began to dwindle. The restaurants prefer smaller chickens that are under 4.25 pounds because the breasts are the perfect size for a sandwich.
Reports say the price for smaller chickens has tripled the cost for larger birds, but companies still buy them because it’s cheaper than cutting the larger breasts to size.
