‘The customer will decide who wins’: Battle for Ireland’s fast food chicken market rages

A slew of US brands – Popeyes, Wingstop and Dave’s Hot Chicken – have set up in Ireland recently, threatening the established players in the market People queued for over 24 hours for the opening of Popeyes in Blanchardstown in June. Photograph: Enda O'Dowd/The Irish Times Richard Bartusis and Max Afonin, sixth-year secondary school students from Dublin, fought tooth and nail to win one year’s worth of free chicken burgers at the recent opening of the Popeyes restaurant in Dundrum Town Centre. They even skipped class for it: “I’m only missing Irish and English, so who cares about that? Let’s just be honest here – I speak English, I speak Irish,” says Bartusis (in English). While the pair will soon enjoy their winnings over the next 12 months for being second and third in the queue on the restaurant’s first morning serving quick chicken on September 11th, it was not a foregone conclusion when they began lining up before 7am.“There was a bit of conflict outside,” Bartusis says, “people scrapping and all that”. Afonin continues: “We walked in and there was no one else here, so we were pretty happy – we thought we had got in the first three.”“Then, this dad came in ... he was fifth in the queue and he was trying to get us kicked out because he wanted to move up,” Afonin says. The two teenagers say he tried to dupe them into leaving by saying they had to be over 18 to claim the prize. A Popeyes worker confirmed that this was not the case, and the man ultimately left the queue, but not before quipping: “It was worth a try.”READ MOREChicken has suddenly become big business in Ireland, with an influx of US brands: Popeyes, Dave’s Hot Chicken, Wingstop and Chick-fil-A.“We had been trying to get to Ireland, really, since 2021,” says Tom Crowley, the chief executive of Popeyes’ UK and Ireland, which opened its first Irish restaurant in Blanchardstown Shopping Centre in June. “It’s just been phenomenal, we’ve been so pleased with the response.”In just three months or so, the chain has expanded to four outlets. “I think there’s opportunity in Ireland, probably as much as there is in the UK, if not a bit more,” Crowley says.The chief executive was quick to celebrate the ease of doing business here. “The nine per cent VAT [rate] is phenomenal, I wish the British government would listen – I’ve been very open in talking about the fact that we’re paying nine [per cent] in Ireland and 20 [per cent] in the UK ... Mr Burnham, please listen,” he says.“That makes a difference in terms of where you want to put cash and invest ... Ireland right now, with that level of support from the Government, is a great place to be investing capital. “That’s another reason why we’re keen to grow relatively quickly, but also not go so fast that you damage operations and quality and those under pressure if you scale too quickly,” he says.It brought its popular chicken sandwich – “our iconic product” – to London in 2021, and across the Irish Sea five years later. “It was a bit of a no-brainer, really,” Crowley says. “The incumbent had been in both countries for a very long time, and our research was really clear.”Crowley says consumers told his team: “We’re used to McDonald’s, we’re used to KFC and we’re a bit bored, frankly, we want something new and exciting.” He says they “showed them Popeyes and they said ‘yes, bring that here please’”.The incumbent is KFC, itself a US company (started in Kentucky) that has been trading here for decades. “We’ve been in Ireland for just over 50 years now – we’re proud, honestly, of the heritage that we’ve got in Ireland,” says James Whitehorn, the chief finance and development officer at KFC UK and Ireland.“Disappointed is a strong word ... but we’re slightly disappointed with the scale that we’ve only managed to get to in Ireland over those intervening years,” he says.James Whitehorn, chief finance and development officer at KFC UK and Ireland. Photo: Ben Stevens/Parsons Media Staff gather at the opening of KFC's outlet on Grafton Steet in Dublin city centre. Photograph: KFC UK and Ireland The company has pledged a £105 million investment in Ireland to double its number of restaurants to 70 in the next decade. “We’ve taken a really keen interest in Ireland itself,” he says. “We see it as one of the top three growth opportunities in Europe.“Competition is a good thing, to some degree: it keeps us sharp, and it’s actually very healthy. It’s going to raise the standard for customers; it’s going to create better customer experiences.”He later clarifies that “healthily dissatisfied” is “probably a better way” to characterise the company’s presence in the Irish market as it prepares to innovate its menu across its food and drink offering such as a new line of sodas and more sauces to go with the food.Whitehorn says: “I’ve worked in this business now for 12 years and I’ve come to realise that this a very competitive sector in the economy – you have to earn that customer’s visit. Honestly, I’d much rather be in a category that everyone wants to be part of than one that nobody does.”One company that laid its foundations on Irish soil before new US competition came here is BuJo Burgers – a recognisable brand to many across south Dublin that this summer made its first foray into the city centre.Its owner, Stephen Keating, said that while its main offering is beef burgers – chicken made no appearances on its first menu – that soon had to change. “We just couldn’t ignore it,” he says. “Look at the stats yourself and you’ll see how quickly chicken as a product has grown.“It’s versatile, it’s appealing to younger age groups. It’s clean protein ... it lends itself to these memorable flavour experiences – whether you’re dipping or dunking or pouring, you can really elevate a chicken dish and create something entirely new with it.“It’s become such a big part of our business. It was kind of our dirty secret for a while; I would say, ‘Christ, it’s taken over’. I’m a beef guy.”Keating admits “my background is in beef – so I was a reluctant participant” at first.While he is somewhat new to the quick chicken market, the competition has not put him off – “there’s room for everybody” – and he is similarly quick to point out that fast food crazes come and go.The war over the quick chicken market in Ireland seems to be raging on all sides, but the corporate winners and losers are yet to be decided. The consumer now has more than enough choice to satisfy their cravings. “Ultimately, the customer will decide who wins. It’s just our job to keep giving them reasons to choose KFC,” says Whitehorn.IN THIS SECTION