Chick-fil-a steals KFC's chicken crown The days when fried chicken was synonymous with a certain white-haired southern gentleman are over, at least in the U.S. A new champion has claimed KFC's long-held chicken crown: Chick- fil-A The change atop the leaderboard appears undisputed: Yum! Brands (YUM), which owns KFC and has for years prided itself as "the leader in the U.S. chicken [quick-service restaurant] segment," removed that very phrase from the company's most recent annual report. WA: 1 MN: 2 NH: 1 ID:5 WI: 1 NY:1 MA: 2 WY:1 MI: 1 IA: 9 PA: 59 NJ: 22 NE. 4 MD: 60 UT: 16 IL: 24 IN: OH: 39 WV: DE 8 CO: 29 DC: 1 CA: 62 KS: 12 VA: 105 MO: 23 KY: 27 NC: 144 TN: 72 AZ: 23 OK: 33 NM: 6 AR: 26 SC: 79 MS: AL: GA. 67 200 TX: 270 33 Locations current as of March, 2013. Download PDF version Source: www.chick-fil-a.com Anyone in the northern half of the U.S. is likely scratching her head and wondering why she hasn't seen Chick-fil-a outlets opening in the neighborhood. Last year Chick-fil-a only had about 1,775 U.S. stores to KFC's 4,491, and most are in the South. Yet in dollar terms the Colonel is coming up short even with that much larger footprint: Chick-fil-a's 2013 sales passed $5 billion, while all of KFC's U.S. restaurants rang up about $4.22 billion, according to Technomic. And that's with zero dollars coming in to Chick-fil-a on Sundays, when every restaurant is closed. What Chick-fil-a lacks in store count, it makes up for in traffic. Each restaurant made about $3.2 million in 2013, more than three times as much as the average KFC at $938,000. Average sales at KFC restaurants have remained largely unchanged over the past decade, while they haveclimbed steadily at Chick-fil-a. Same-store sales climbed by more than 3.6 percent at Chick-fil-a last year; KFC's fell by 2 percent. KFC hit its U.S. peak by store count around 2004, when it had more than 5,500 restaurants- over four times the number of Chick-fil-a locations-and claimed 46 percent of the fast-food chicken market. But over the past decade the gap between the two narrowed as KFC closed stores and Chick-fil-a added more. Now, KFC's storefront advantage is just 2.5 times more than its rival, and Chick-fil-a plans to chip away with more than 100 new locations opening this year. (A representative for KFC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.) Darren Tristano, an executive vice president at consultancy Technomic, called Chick-fil-a one of the most successful fast-food chains. He cited the sizable breakfast business, an average check slightly higher than competitors', and a menu that differentiates it from the big burger chains. And fast-food chicken fans outside the South may not be puzzled by Chick-fil-a's hegemony for long. A spokesman mentioned plans for locations in the "northern, Midwest, and western states," where the company is now focusing its growth plans. Number of U.S. locations Average Sales Per Store KFC Chick-fil-a KFC Chick-fil-a 5,500 5,000 3,000 4,500 2,500 ....... .. 4,000 3,500 ..... 3,000 ..... $ (thousands) 2.500 .... 1,500.... 2,000 1,000 .. 1,500 1,000 500 500 2004 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2004 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Source: QSR Magazine, Technomic Source: YUM!, QSR Magazine, Technomic 2010 U.S. 2010 U.S. Average Segment Systemwide Sales Sales per Unit Total Units in | Total Change in Rank Company (millions (thousands) 2010 Units from 2009 KFC $4,700.00 $933.00 5,055 107 Chick-fil-a $3,582.50 $2,694.40 1537 57 WN Popeyes* $1,635.00 $1,053.00 1,580 34 Church's Chicken $872.70 $695.00 1250 24 Zaxby's $777.60 $1,548.00 514 22 OUT . Bojangles' $712.80 $1,573.30 484 27 El Pollo Loco $557.00 $1,400.00 412 -3 Boston Market* $513.00 $1,015.00 491 -29Top U.S. Chicken Chains Growth Sales ($ M) 1992 1993 1997 Rate () KFC 3,400 3,400 3,500 3,700 3,900 4,000 3.3 Boston Market 43 147 371 754 1,100 1,197 94.5 Popeye's 545 569 614 660 677 727 5.9 Chick-fil-a 356 396 451 502 570 671 1 1.9 Church's 414 440 465 501 526 574 6.8 Total 4,758 4,952 5,401 6,1 18 6,772 7,170 8.5 U.S. restaurants KFC 5,089 5,128 5,149 5, 142 5, 10B 5, 120 0.1 Boston Market 83 217 534 829 1,087 1,166 69.6 Popeye's 769 769 853 889 894 949 4.3 Chick-fil-a 487 545 534 825 717 762 9.0 Church's 944 932 937 953 989 1,070 2.5 Total 7,372 7,591 8,007 8,638 8,795 9,067 4.2 Sales per unit ($000s) KFC 668 663 680 720 764 781 3.2 Boston Market 518 677 595 910 1,012 1.027 14.7 Popeye's 709 740 720 743 757 767 1.6 Chick-fil-a 731 727 845 608 795 881 3.8 Church's 439 472 496 526 531 537 4.1 Total 645 ZBL 782 782 782 782 3.9 Source: Tricon Global Restaurants, Inc.. /997 Annual Report, Boston Chicken, Inc., 1 997 Annual Report; Chick-fil-a, corporate headquarters, Atlanta; AFC Enterprises, Inc., 1 997 Annual Report