It has been 7 weeks since Popeyes released its new Spicy Chicken Sandwich and still no
information on the when the controversial sandwich will be made available again.
For those without a social media presence, the release of
Popeye’s new Spicy Chicken Sandwich has spurred a massive social media debate
(now called “the chicken wars”) over which fast-food giant - Chick-fil-A or Popeyes
has the superior spicy chicken sandwich. The chicken wars debate has even
created a secondary market for the Spicy Chicken Sandwich – listings for the Popeyes sandwich were found on Craigslist and eBay for up to $500 per sandwich.
Apex Marketing Group estimates that Popeyes reaped $65 million in equivalent media value as a result of the social media Chicken Sandwich Wars. This led to passionate fast-food fans on both sides of
the argument to restaurants - eventually making Popeyes sell out of its
sandwich within just two weeks of the launch date.
Popeyes has since made a statement claiming the sandwich
will return but provided no other details. The lack of details surrounding the
return makes me question if this is a supply chain issue or a marketing tactic.
Marketing
Tactic: Consumers love what they can’t
have or what isn’t readily available to them.
The use of product scarcity has long been a promotional
tool utilized by the restaurant industry with the use of “limited time offers”
such as Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice coffees to McDonald’s one-day-only Szechuan
sauce inspired by the TV show “Rick & Morty”. Now with each product
potentially going viral on social media – it’s not out of the question that
Popeyes may be dragging their feet with the sandwich relaunch only to
capitalize on the consumer’s suspense when the product is released as a
full-time menu item.
Supply Chain Issue: How
does a chicken restaurant run out of chicken?
It seems that Popeyes’s management team drastically underestimated the
power of social media and the popularity of the new chicken sandwich. While the
general public may think Popeyes missed out on several million dollars of revenue due
to its product shortage, it is the lesser of two evils. Consider that the
majority of the 2,500 Popeyes locations are franchisees, they are
generally against new products as they exposes a franchise owner to the financial risk of keeping
perishable excess inventory and ultimately forces the owner to take a loss. While the
management team may have temporary lost potential revenue, the revenue will be made up on re-release and they have gained the
trust of their franchisees with their new product.
Another argument for the Spicy Chicken Sandwich shortage
is a potential supply chain issue – the hype and craze of these social media
“chicken wars” have strained the supply of chicken. Poultry companies are
expected to process a record-setting 43.3 billion pounds of chicken this year.
To add that strain, almost every single one of Popeyes competitors has since
launched a spicy chicken-focused marketing campaign, which has the consumer’s
flocking to these restaurants.
Considering it takes 7- 9 weeks for a broiler, a chicken
raised to be harvested for its meat - I expect Popeyes to resume selling the
chicken sandwich by mid-Q4 2019. As someone who has yet to try the sandwich – I
certainly won’t miss it the next time it is released.
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