Fast Food Wars: KFC vs. Popeyes
Tagline: This is Fast Food Wars, may the greasiest franchise win.
My favorite food is probably fried chicken; the crispy skin and the juicy meat complement each other to create a satisfying experience. There are two fast food joints that I go to whenever I'm craving fried chicken: Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) and Popeyes. Between the two, my personal favorite is KFC, mainly because their fried chicken has more flavor (with 11 herbs and spices!). But again, that's just MY personal preference, and since I have been comparing these two chains for a while, I want to really to do a deep dive to see who is really the "King of Fried Chicken". I am going to evaluate both chains based on three objective categories: Number of Locations, Revenue, and American Customer Satisfaction Index, also known as ACSI.
For a disclaimer, this evaluation will be based on my personal research, and is not definitive of which company is superior. Also, I know these are not the only fried chicken fast food franchises, they're just the ones I'm most familiar with.
With all that out of the way, let's get started!
Round 1: Number of Locations
First, let's look at KFC. KFC was founded by Colonel Sanders and was first opened as a franchise in
Salt Lake City, Utah in 1952. As of January 2023, KFC currently has 3,909 stores in the United States, and over 20,000 stores worldwide. According to the company's website, they have more than 25,000 restaurants in over 145 countries and territories in Africa, Asia, Oceania, South America, Carribean, Europe, Middle East, and North America, and it seems that they will continue to expand globally for the years to come.
Then, we take a look at Popeye's. Popeye's was founded later than KFC in 1972 at New Orleans, Louisiana, originally named "Chicken on the Run". The founder, Al Copeland, opened the restaurant, renamed Popeye's, as a franchise in 1976. As of January 2023, Popeye's currently has 2,913 stores in the United States, and over 3,500 stores worldwide. Back in 2021, the company expanded globally to 3,705 stores in over 30 countries, including China, the United Kingdom, and Mexico.
Based on these statistics, KFC is the clear winner of this round, especially in terms of worldwide locations. However, given that Popeye's is a younger restaurant chain (I was genuinely surprised to discover that it is only 50 years old) and is just starting to branch out outside of the United States, I would not count Popeye's out in competing with KFC in terms of global expansion in the future.
Round 2: Revenue
Now let's take a look at a crucial business indicator for ANY company: Revenue.
Starting with KFC, the restaurant chain garnered over $31.3 billion worldwide in 2021, which is an estimated 19% increase from the $26.2 billion in 2020.
As expected, Popeye's revenue is lower as the restaurant chain garnered $579 million in revenue in 2021, with a 4% increase from the $556 million in 2020.
Even though KFC appears to be the clear winner in generating revenue, it is important to note that Popeye's is more consistent in increasing their revenue in the past several years. Between 2014 and 2021, KFC saw decreases in revenue in 2015 (3.4% decrease) and 2020 (6.1% decrease), while Popeye's maintained a steady increase in revenue with a notable 50% improvement between 2017 and 2018 (believe it or not, this increase was not due to the infamous, and in my opinion overhyped, chicken sandwich that was created later in 2019).
Once again, I will not count Popeye's out in competing with KFC in the future if they continue to increase their revenue every year.
Round 3: ACSI
As the motto goes, "The customer is always right".
Customer satisfaction is very crucial for all businesses because if a customer is not satisfied with a product or service, then he or she will most likely not stay loyal to the business which is potentially detrimental for the business financially. It is important to have the customer keep coming back for more and generate a positive word-of-mouth that will attract even more customers.
The American Customer Satisfactory Index, also known as ACSI, is a national indicator of the quality of goods and services experienced by consumers. It has been beneficial in helping companies recognize and improve their customer satisfaction.
According to the website for ACSI, KFC, with an ACSI of 78 for 2022, saw a 1% decrease in customer satisfaction, while Popeye's, with an ACSI of 71, saw a 3% decrease. Unfortunately, Popeye's larger decrease in customer satisfaction is not surprising considering the plethora of customer complaints that have become news stories, including a notable class action lawsuit regarding false advertising of the quality of their chicken tenders (are they really made of tenderloins? who knows!).
Even though KFC is definitely not without their own stories of customer complaints (for example, a great deal of consumers in New Zealand filed complaints about KFC mashed potatoes and gravy having a "plastic" taste), their 1% decrease is still pretty impressive and an indication that they give more priority to customer satisfaction.
Results
With more global expansion, greater revenue, and higher customer satisfaction, it goes without saying that KFC is the obvious winner of this fast-food war. That being said, Popeye's has the potential to compete with KFC several years down the line with plans for further global expansion and more consistent increase in annual revenue. They just need to prioritize their customer satisfaction as indicated by their ACSI (for starters, I suggest avoiding false advertisement).
Which do you prefer? KFC, Popeye's, or another fried chicken chain?
References:
Number of KFC locations in the USA in 2023 | ScrapeHero
Number of Popeyes locations in the USA in 2023 | ScrapeHero
Popeyes to open 200-plus units in US and Canada in 2022 | Restaurant Dive
Revenue of Popeyes 2015-2021 (statstic.com)
KFC Statistics, Restaurant Count, Revenue Totals and Facts (2023) (expandedramblings.com)
The American Customer Satisfaction Index (theacsi.org)
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