Their bucket used to be filled up to the 80% mark with fried chicken. Got a bucket 10 years ago and not only did the bucket shrink, but the chicken barely hit the halfway mark.
Popeyes has been the go-to. And weird to say, but supermarkets have picked up the fried chicken slack as well, if you aren't graced with a Popeyes.
The US is comparable to all of Europe,. In addition to national chains there are ton of regional (small number of states) and local chains (generally within one state). Fried chicken is extremely popular.
So probably hundreds of fried chicken fast food chains exist even if there are only a handful that are nationally known.
Just to note: US chains are significantly better outside the US. I don't eat at chains in the US anymore, they're expensive and I'm pretty sure my shit is more nutritious. Might taste better too.
Its actually been a long term "Lotto list" item of mine to build out a big food court type establishment and bring over franchises that arent here. Like Popeyes, Sonic, Wendys, etc
So long as I have the only one in Australia people would make the trip and pay a premium just to try a Popeyes chicken sandwich.
Oh man I could not even estimate. How many locations until it is considered a chain? There is a bar on my block that has a two other locations, is that a chain?
I've tried several Popeyes locations and I've gotten half cooked chicken every time. I'm not a fan of gooey, medium rare chicken. I wish frying chicken at home wasn't such a messy pain in the ass.
Personally, I use sous vide to cook the seasoned chicken at 155F for 90 minutes, then coat it in batter/oil mix, roll it in seasoned panko and put it in the air fryer at 450F for 10-15 minutes. No pot of oil or grease splattered all over the stove. Chicken is tender, juicy, well-seasoned, has a crispy, crunchy crust, and is never raw at the bone.
Thank you! I have been thinking about an air fryer, it's just so big and I have so little counter/cupboard space. I might have to sacrifice the microwave to make room 😆 I don't even have room to think about a sous vide. Is the air fryer hard to clean? It looks hard to clean.
Not much harder to clean than a pot. You just pull out the basket fully and wash it. I haven't felt the need to clean the heating element part thoroughly but I imagine that's not gonna be harder to do than you would have to with an oven.