The Reason Why Fast Food Chains Are Seeking Out Smaller Chickens

Chickens are a fast food chain's best friend. When people think of corporations hunting for chicken suppliers, most would assume they want the biggest chickens possible. For home chefs, a big chicken is certainly nice to have, but fast food chains have different priorities nowadays. The current trend is to get even smaller birds, weighing no more than four pounds.

The sudden influx of wanting small chickens can be attributed to the humble chicken sandwich. According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, smaller birds have become a bit of a hot item among fast food chains. Chicken sandwiches are a popular menu addition these days, and they tend to favor specific types of chicken meat. Restaurants want smaller chickens because they are apparently more flavorful and tender, which makes them perfect for chicken sandwiches, according to the report.

Of course, this demand has made them more expensive. According to a report from WDRB, brands such as Chick-fil-A and KFC are among the big fast-food chains looking for smaller chickens. However, the chicken industry at large has struggled to make the switch to breeding smaller, slow-growing chickens.

Smaller chickens usually mean younger ones. Older chickens typically have more fat and tougher meat, while younger chickens are leaner and more tender. There's also the simple matter of size. Smaller chickens are a lot faster to prepare and cook simply because they're smaller. Just as thinly cutting a fillet out of a thigh makes it cook faster, the same logic applies to the whole bird. So it makes sense that fast food chains would want smaller chickens.

The fast food demand for smaller chickens comes at an interesting time as some producers have made the swap to focus on producing smaller, slow-grown chickens. According to Bloomberg, some producers have rejected industry practices to breed bigger and bigger chickens using fast-growing methods. Instead, they're producing slow-grown, smaller chickens. Sadly, this is taking a lot of time and effort. 

In 2019, Civil Eats reported several producers in the industry have tried to focus on slow-grown chickens, but the cost of production and supply and demand remains an issue for the industry at large. The process towards smaller, more ethically sourced chickens is an arduous one, and it'll take a while before the supply meets demand. Until then, restaurants are facing higher costs on their hunt for smaller chickens, which may raise chicken sandwich prices.