Chickfila < Popeyes ... Not Sorry.

DISCLAIMER: I love chickfila and this is not a post to bash them, when it comes to the battle of the best chicken sandwich Popeyes wins it hands down (It ain't even close)

A while back there was a huge uproar over chicken sandwiches, at the time, I didn't engage in the argument, I just went on about my business. All of the sudden, every fast food chain in the world was either improving or coming out with a new chicken sandwich. This fad quickly grew into a fierce competition to see who could produce the BEST chicken sandwich, many argued valiantly on all sides, soon the fight boiled down to two top contenders,

1. Chickfila vs 2. Popeyes

Now I have had Chickfila's chicken sandwich many a time, dating all the way back to high school. For me, that sandwich sat atop the charts when it came to the best chicken sandwich at a fast food restaurant. The chicken was good and the sauce was amazing. I was sold. BUT

That sandwich did have two small but noticeable flaws:

1. Size - Its a small sandwich. In fact, its so small that often in high school I would eat two of them in one sitting...

2. It isn't dressed - Chickfila made a choice not to put anything on the sandwich except pickle (and some sad small pickles at that), not a bad call but one that leaves the majority of people opening the sandwich once it comes to your table or worse, trying to dress it in your car... We have all done the chickfila sauce on your shirt walk of shame at least once.

None of these flaws were fatal (In fact I would imagine that both of them were deliberate choices by Chickfila) BUT the combination of these choices did leave the door open for a potential competitor to emerge.

Enter Popeyes... Popeyes compared to Chickfila is a subpar restaurant. Let's be real, typically Popeyes is dirty, they take a long time and outside of those delicious biscuits a typical visit to Popeyes doesn't leave you wanting to come back for more. Its good, but its a little expensive and the service is typically not very good. BUT

Popeyes did something brilliant. They built a sandwich that takes advantage of all of the shortcomings of the Chickfila sandwich. The Popeyes sandwich is BIG, BOLD, and DRESSED. Dripping with mayo on both sides of a Chicken patty that looks like it took two or three chickens to make. This sandwich looks like a bodacious MANWICH... This is the type of sandwich that grandma used to make and you don't dare grip grandmas sandwich with one hand. It's a two fisted affair. Not only that, this sandwich has CRUNCH, no soggy soft exterior when you bite into this baby. When you take that first bite, it sounds like big foot just stepped on a tube of Pringles. It's glorious. This sandwich also packs a pickle PUNCH. These pickles are the ones who beat up the chickfila sandwich pickles, these pickles are tough like your grandpa was, these pickles have done some time and came back stronger.

All that too say, the Popeyes sandwich hit every major weakness of the Chickfila sandwich, AND its cheap. In fact it's one of the cheapest combos on the Popeyes menu.

CONCLUSION:

After eating both of these sandwiches multiple times; I would dare argue that the Popeyes sandwich is better than the Chickfila sandwich but I truly believe that both of these sandwiches are great and are loved for different reasons by different people. Neither sandwich will ever be able to take the other out because in order to do so it will have to compromise who it is and why it is loved, the Chickfila sandwich is small, slightly healthier and a simpler sandwich. its built for a crowd that likes to make their own sandwich and control everything that goes on it. If you separate your food on thanksgiving you will love the Chickfila sandwich.

By contrast the Popeyes sandwich is bigger, bolder and it doesn't care about the calorie count, its flavor is more pronounced, its not for those who seek to make their own sandwich it is what it is and you can like it or lump it. If you pile your food into a giant mountain on thanksgiving and like it better when it mixes, you will love the Popeyes sandwich.

I hope you had as much fun reading this as I did writing it, until next time!

Kendall