Popeyes surpasses KFC in restaurant count

Popeyes has moved into second place among restaurants specializing in chicken dishes.

Fast food restaurant chain Popeyes has overtaken KFC in the number of establishments for the first time. Thanks to significant business growth recently, Popeyes has moved into second place among restaurants specializing in chicken dishes.

The leader continues to be the Chick-fil-A chain, which surpassed KFC’s number of restaurants in 2012. Meanwhile, KFC continues to lose ground in the U.S. market. Over the past year, the company’s segment share has fallen from 16% to 11%.

Popeyes’ share of the U.S. market has also been shrinking over the past year. However, despite a 3 percentage point decline, it amounted to about 12%, which allowed the company to surpass KFC.

Chick-fil-A continues to invest aggressively in organic growth for the chain. The Atlanta-based company’s share has already reached 45.5%. Experts cite efficient drive-thrus and high customer service standards as the main factors behind the brand’s success.