Crispy chicken is causing a shortage of poultry in the U.S. Business and Economic News

From crispy chicken sandwiches to tenders and wings, the U.S.’s hunger for fried chicken is a growing shortage of poultry.

The popularity of chicken – sandwiches and tenders, nuggets and wings – is driving demand for fried poultry as America has begun to fall short.

KFC says it is making efforts to keep up with the high demand for its new sandwich, while the North Carolina-based chicken and biscuit chain Bojangles announced a suspension of tenders at its 750 locations.

“It simply came to our notice then. But they’ll be back soon, ”Bojangles’ corporate Twitter account wrote earlier this week, responding to a frustrated customer who can’t find the company’s chicken offerings.

Chicken, the most popular meat in the U.S., finds a new level of demand after Popeyes went viral in 2019 and introduced a sandwich that sold out in weeks. Fury has also caught on to other chains, including McDonald’s Corp. and with KFC, Yum! Brands Inc. reported this week that new fried chicken sandwiches are selling for much more than expected.

“Demand for the new sandwich has been so strong that with the general tightening of the domestic chicken supply, our main challenge has been to sustain that demand,” Yum CEO David Gibbs said in a conference call on Wednesday.

KFC’s sales at comparable stores rose 14% in the last quarter of the U.S. due in part to a new chicken sandwich that sells twice as much as new sandwiches.

McDonald’s, which reported higher-than-expected earnings in the first quarter, said it had no supply limits when it announced gains on Thursday, but said sales of the new chicken sandwich line so far “exceed expectations”.

Poultry companies have tried to keep up with the demand for fast-service restaurants. According to CEO Fabio Sandri, the biggest challenge for Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., the second-largest chicken producer in the U.S., is work. The company will have to pay an additional $ 40 million this year to pay and retain employees, Sandri said Thursday.

Wingstop Inc. president Charles Morrison, who built his business on chicken, also mentioned the problem this week.

“Suppliers are struggling as much as we can in our industry to hire people to process chicken, which can put unexpected pressure on the number of birds that can be processed and affect all parts of the U.S. chicken, not just the wings, negatively,” he said in a conference call.

Some food companies may take advantage of the opportunity: to try to catch some red-hot demand, Beyond Meat Inc. plans to start selling a plant-based chicken product in the summer, Bloomberg News reported earlier this week.

–With the help of Michael Hirtzer.