\n<\/strong>
\nThe sandwich birthed\u00a0too many thinkpieces, got a cashier\u00a0held up at gunpoint, and disrupted Popeyes\u2019 supply chain for months. It also\u00a0broke the internet\u00a0(and bits of the US\u00a0national highway system) and\u00a0raised the stock of its parent company, Restaurant Brands International.<\/p>\n
While Wendy\u2019s, Burger King, KFC and others raced to catch up, McDonald\u2019s held off on a chicken sandwich makeover\u2014until now.<\/p>\n
![\"McDonald-finally-enters-the-chicken-sandwich-wars-rapidnews-dailyrapid-rapid-news-dailyrapidnews\"](\"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/McDonald-finally-enters-the-chicken-sandwich-wars-rapidnews-dailyrapid-rapid-news.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve heard our customers loud and clear, and we know they\u2019re craving more chicken options,\u201d said McDonald\u2019s\u00a0executive Linda VanGosen in a statement.\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re confident all chicken fans\u2013from traditionalists to spice enthusiasts\u2013will discover a new menu favorite they\u2019ll come back for time and time again.\u201d<\/p>\n
While delicious and filling, chicken sandwiches are hardly new to fast food chains. Popeyes created a frenzy by first drumming up, and then leaning into the fervor its sandwich caused on the internet, driving excitement for its product and traffic to its site and standalone app with each exasperated opinion piece or joyful social media review. Along the way, it showed that internet buzz can turn a second-tier brand into a category leader.<\/p>\n
Even if McDonald\u2019s new sandwich winds up clogging roads near a strip mall or business complex near you in the coming weeks, Popeye\u2019s may have already won the early publicity contest by hijacking McDonald\u2019s online promotion.<\/p>\n
To build excitement for its new offerings, McDonald\u2019s rolled out limited-edition chicken-themed merchandise, like hoodies and a 7-inch vinyl record. McDonald\u2019s directed users to the newly announced\u00a0CHKNDrop.com, but neglected to look out for the misspellers of the world. Popeyes pounced at the opportunity, offering 500 free sandwiches to the first users to type in one of dozens of near-miss URLs like\u00a0chikindrop.com<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re a chronic misspeller, you have some guarantee that you won\u2019t get a 404 not found message if you misspell their [website] when trying to type in your search bar,\u201d said a statement from Popeye\u2019s. \u201cYou may just find a free Popeyes Chicken Sandwich instead.\u201d The\u00a0500 free sandwiches\u00a0were quickly snapped up by eager fast foodies.<\/p>\n
McDonald\u2019s vast number of locations and its name recognition will probably make this chicken war an unfair fight in terms of raw sales, but McDonald\u2019s is going to have to do more than rest on its arches to defeat Popeyes at its own game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After nearly two years of trying to beat chicken with burgers, fast food\u2019s giant has<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5090,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"yoast_head":"\n