What’s Hot: Learn From Quick-Serve Restaurants

Sometimes, it’s as valuable to look at your competitors just outside the channel as it is to look at the latest trends in convenience. Taking a look at the biggest trends in quick-serve restaurant sandwiches, it should be no surprise to see chicken topping the list.

Popeye’s Chicken Sandwich is now “Instagram famous” for its late summer performance. And with an Unbranded Purchase Intent score of 87, that’s not difficult to forecast. However, Datassential normally looks for high Uniqueness ratings as well to determine if an item will truly deliver — and Popeye’s shot a disappointing 18 out of 100 on that metric. These two SCORES results make this an item highly likely to be copied and acceptable to shoppers in convenience, and should be on your radar.

Whataburger’s Buffalo Ranch Chicken Strip Sandwich delivers exactly what its notoriously loyal following wants with this decadent offering. The 97 for Branded Purchase Intent validates that, and the 51 for Uniqueness supports a point of difference beyond Popeye’s result. If you’re looking for a slightly more versatile base, strips might be the next item for your menu.

These two sandwiches offer unique opportunities for c-stores by (ironically) not scoring high in Uniqueness when tested by Datassential’s SCORES consumer survey.

Click below to download the full report analyzing the success of these menu items.