Chicken sustains fast-food chains as cost of beef rises

Chicken Big Macs. Chicken al pastor burritos. Free chicken sandwich Sundays. Cantina-style chicken menus. It’s not your late-night cravings talking – it’s a takeover of fast-food menus.

The fast-food industry’s years-long chicken craze accelerated this year as companies from McDonald’s to Chipotle rolled out specialty products for budget-conscious, protein-craving consumers. Executives have touted their new chicken sandwiches, wraps and wings as healthier and less expensive alternatives to beef in recent earnings calls. Tyson Foods, one of the world’s largest poultry companies, said on a recent investor call that its chicken business saw a “significant turnaround” in 2024 and expects strong chicken demand to drive higher profits in 2025.

“If I’m a restaurant or a chain, I’ve got to put a meal in front of people they can afford,” said David Anderson, a livestock economist at Texas A&M University. “If I want to put something on a menu to reduce my costs, it makes a lot of sense to put a chicken item out there.”

In 1970, the average person in the United States ate about 50 pounds of chicken each year. Today, that number has more than doubled, and the Agriculture Department expects chicken consumption to surpass 100 pounds for the first time in 2024. Fast-food chains have followed that trend in recent years, as rising labor and food costs pummel their bottom lines, said Hudson Riehle, the National Restaurant Association’s senior research vice president.

“The future for chicken remains bright,” Riehle said. “The market is driven by convenience, and chicken is an extremely convenient protein to prepare.”

Chicken often becomes a go-to protein for restaurants and consumers when inflation bites because it takes fewer natural resources to produce, Anderson said. The average price of a fresh, whole chicken in the U.S. was $1.99 a pound in October, while the same amount of ground beef fetched $5.59, according to federal government data.

The number of chicken products consumed at quick-service restaurants – including sandwiches, wings, nuggets and strips – has increased 11% since 2019 and notched a 2% year-over-year increase in the 12 months ended October 2024, according to Brooks Berrodin, a food industry analyst at market research firm Circana.

McDonald’s ushered in this year’s chicken charge with a slew of limited-time offers, including the highly anticipated Chicken Big Mac, which debuted in October and swaps the hamburger patties on the company’s signature sandwich for two chicken patties.

McDonald’s chicken market is twice the size of beef and growing much faster, executives said in their most recent investor call. The fast-food giant serves about 300 million pounds of chicken each year, and its sales are now equally split between chicken and beef. New chicken products contributed to 3% revenue growth and a slight same-store sales increase in the United States for the company during the third quarter.

In 2019, consumption of beef burgers at quick-service restaurants was triple that of chicken sandwiches. But in the 12 months ended October 2024, consumers ate about twice as many beef burgers as chicken sandwiches, Berrodin said, meaning the gap has narrowed in the last five years.

McDonald’s isn’t the only burger chain embracing chicken. Burger King introduced a fiery chicken sandwich this summer and crispy chicken wraps last year. For several months this year, Shake Shack has also offered a free chicken sandwich with a $10 purchase every Sunday.

Shake Shack made its “chicken awareness” campaign a priority in November 2023 after concluding that its chicken sandwich wasn’t getting enough attention, said Mike McGarry, the company’s vice president of brand marketing. Chicken-focused promotions drive repeat visits and contributed to the company’s third-quarter same-store sales growth of 4.4%, McGarry said.

“We wanted to find ways to get into the chicken conversation,” he said. “There is a distinct guest that goes to places wanting chicken, and we want to be there for them and in their consideration when they’re looking for it.”

On a recent call with analysts, executives from Taco Bell parent Yum Brands called their cantina chicken menu a “growth driver” during a quarter that saw same-store sales rise 4% year-over-year.

Chipotle, which saw its third-quarter same-store sales jump 6%, found that limited-time offers like chicken al pastor were “a true help in getting more people through the door,” said Chris Brandt, the company’s chief branding officer.

And Wingstop, a poster child for the chicken renaissance, saw same-store sales surge 20.9% in its third quarter and has opened more than 190 new stores this year to meet consumer demand.

Chains flocked to chicken to attract consumers like 18-year-old Daniel Berry, who said he eats chicken about three times as often as beef because it’s cheaper and easier to cook.

Any time McDonald’s brings out a new product, he’s eager to try it, but the fast-food giant’s new chicken offerings haven’t impressed him.

“A lot of times when I order the chicken and eat it, I’m like, ‘Why did I not just get a hamburger instead?’ ” said Berry, a native of Glasgow, Montana. “I don’t want to order a dirt-cheap chicken sandwich that’s going to taste horrible, but I don’t want to eat premium chicken that’s going to break the bank.”

Fast-food companies have introduced value meals and dozens of discounts in recent years to attract consumers like Berry who have shifted from drive-thrus to home-cooked meals. Restaurant inflation has remained red-hot – increasing about 4% in the last year – even as grocery costs have leveled out since the pandemic, according to consumer price index data.

Some companies, such as Chipotle, price chicken products lower than beef. Others, like McDonald’s and Burger King, charge the same for both proteins, despite chicken’s lower cost.

Burger chains typically offer more meal deals and discounts than their competitors, making their chicken prices more flexible, said Gregory Francfort, an analyst at Guggenheim. With smaller profit margins, burger chains may also feel pressure to price chicken closer to beef, he said. And franchisees – which make up the majority of restaurants for nationwide burger chains – might price to boost their margins rather than drive sales volume, Francfort said.

Texas A&M’s Anderson expects chicken to remain cheaper than beef, but the proteins may also compete on consumer preference – and chicken already has an edge. Most consumers perceive chicken as a healthier protein than its competitors, even if it’s deep-fried or doused in sauce. Chicken is generally leaner and has fewer calories and fat than beef, and the rise of diet culture and clean eating in the last 50 years solidified its role as the No. 1 meat for those keeping close tabs on their health, Anderson said.

Toronto resident John Fernandes dines out for about half of his meals, splitting his budget between local restaurants and his favorite fast-food stops. To him, chicken feels like the healthiest choice when he splurges on McDonald’s or Wendy’s, but he acknowledged the protein often loses that dietary edge once it’s been deep-fried.

Yet the taste and texture make it worth the indulgence, he said.

“Beef tastes kind of bland, whereas from the chicken sandwich, you get that crispy mouth feel,” Fernandes, 29, said. “And if there’s no breading on it, it’s truly guilt-free.”

Chicken-heavy menus also let companies simplify their operations, Chipotle’s Brandt said. It took Chipotle more than two years to launch its current limited-time offer, brisket, but the company’s honey chicken, which it is currently testing in some stores, took only about a year to develop.

Restaurants often need to reinvent workflows when they roll out new beef or pork options, Brandt said, but chicken is more versatile because it absorbs flavors better, and employees already know how to cook it.

Because chicken is easier to source, those products can be priced less than beef offerings, Brandt said. The national average price for Chipotle’s chicken al pastor burrito bowl was $9.81 – about level with a regular chicken bowl and cheaper than the $12.95 brisket. And if a chicken offering becomes popular, restaurants can quickly increase their supply without the hassle that can come with harder-to-get proteins.

“Chicken is almost ubiquitous in its appeal from an animal protein standpoint, the price point, the myriad of ways you can prepare it and the ease with which you can do that,” Brandt said. “Americans’ desire for chicken just seems to be insatiable.”