NEW YORK: Chick-fil-A widened its lead over rival KFC as the No. 1 chicken chain by sales in the U.S. last year.
Preliminary data from food industry researcher Technomic shows that Atlanta-based Chick-Fil-A held the lead because its locations are much busier, even though there are far fewer of them.
Chick-fil-A first surpassed KFC as the top U.S. chicken chain in 2012. KFC is still much bigger globally.
KFC, owned by Yum Brands Inc., has been struggling in recent years, despite a variety of new menu items like boneless chicken pieces and snack cups designed to fit in a car cup holder. It even began testing a more upscale restaurant concept called “KFC eleven.”