McDonald’s Might Be Working on Their Own Chick-Fil-A Style Chicken Sandwich

There is no getting around it: Chick-Fil-A is popular, with their signature chicken sandwiches inspiring not only fans to dress up in cow-related garb in order to snag a free sandwich earlier this week, but also to spend their hard-earned money there regularly, making the fast food chain continue to grow and gather market share in an otherwise fairly crowded fast food world. It’s that growth a popularity that has some McDonald’s franchise owners looking to level the playing field with a chicken sandwich of their own.

According to CNBC, the National Owners Association board noted in an email sent to McDonald’s operators that a sandwich to compete with Chick-Fil-A needs to be mission critical.

“A Chicken Sandwich at McDonald’s should be our top priority,” the email said.

Now, you might be thinking to yourself that McDonald’s already has chicken sandwiches on their menu and, more than that, other chicken menu offerings, such as Chicken McNuggets and you’re right. However, specifically, the sandwiches at McDonald’s do not connect with consumers the way Chick-Fil-A’s sandwiches do, something that was reflected in a 2018 American Customer Satisfaction rating that placed Chick-Fil-A on top while McDonald’s showed up at the bottom of the list. On top of that, while Chick-Fil-A has its stronghold in the Southeast — the company is based in Atlanta — it has been expanding in recent years, a concern also noted in the email.

“You may not have Chick-Fil-A’s in your market or to the degree they have them in the southeast, but they are coming,” the email said. “And they don’t discount.”

The solution the board has is to test its Southern Style Chicken Sandwich with a few details in line with what Chick-Fil-A does. It’s a sandwich that appeared on the McDonald’s menu a t one time but was pulled several years ago despite being a fairly popular item.

“Our Southern Style Chicken sandwich was very close to category leading,” the email reads. “It needs some tweaks. We need to serve it in a foil bag, and we need to butter the bun, but the patty recipe was excellent. It can be served in our existing kitchens within our existing service times (even faster).”

As for Chick-fil-A, the restaurant continues to please customers. It was recently named the most popular fast food spot for the fourth straight year last month.

“We are honored by the ranking and grateful to our customers for choosing Chick-fil-A – it’s truly our pleasure to serve them,” the restaurant told ComicBook.com. “More than 145,000 people represent Chick-fil-A in 2,400 restaurants. This recognition is acknowledgment of their commitment to serving great food with gracious hospitality to our devoted customers.”

Do you think McDonald’s should offer a Southern style chicken sandwich? Let us know in the comments below.