The chicken franchise wars are getting extra crispy. Chicken chain sales grew 5.3% in 2025, compared with 3% for the restaurant industry overall and 1.5% for burger chains, according to Technomic data cited by Restaurant Business. Raising Cane’s, Dave’s Hot Chicken and Wingstop have all helped fuel the fowl.
Now McDonald’s wants in. The Golden Arches’ new $8.5 billion modernization plan includes a goal of gaining 1.5 points of chicken market share by 2030. It’s already testing hand-breaded chicken in the U.S. and Ireland.
Chick-fil-A CEO Andrew Cathy, whose chain leads the category, says he welcomes the pressure. “I love competition. It just makes us better,” the former high school coach tells Restaurant Business.
Still, Cathy says his biggest worry is moving too slowly. To keep from getting comfortable, he wants his team to have a “healthy dose of fear.” His plan for staying on top is to stick to basics like accurate orders, good food and warm hospitality. That’s one reason Chick-fil-A has no plans to replace human order takers with AI.