For the past three years, the Chick-Fil-A menu has trumped all other fried chicken companies in the United States, as numbers for others like the traditional KFC have fallen in the midst of the fast food industry's crisis that has greatly damaged McDonald's in years.
As Chick-Fil-A menu's soar, the company formerly known as Kentucky Fried Chicken is now trying to up the ante by reintroducing their popular brand mascot, Colonel Sanders, now played by "SNL" alum and current announcer Darrell Hammond - but it seems like another industry giant is also fighting for a spot in the fried chicken arena.
According to The Washington Post, the new KFC campaign is aimed almost entirely at taking Chick-Fil-A's menu off the top of the game, and by the reintroduction of Colonel Sanders as a character the company's spending $185 million on the new turnaround that includes massive media portrayals of the character as well as an obvious effort through social media.
These days, it's not only Chick-Fil-A's menu threatening KFC: since losing the top spot for fried chicken back in 2012, the chain now makes less money than other franchised restaurants about half its size, including Panera Bread and Applebees.
Business Insider reports, however, that the biggest threat to Chick-Fil-A's menu doesn't really come from the famous colonel that founded KFC, but rather from the fastest-growing fast casual chain in the country: Shake Shack.
Last week, CNBC reported that a Shake Shack subsidiary company, "SSE IP," recently filed an application to trademark the name "Chicken Shack" and only detailed this as chicken sandwiches - and while the restaurant chain has refused to comment on the move, it's not uncommon for massive companies like it to file for applications before they make a move towards a new product.
Shake Shack currently has only one chicken item in its menu, and the introduction of new items with fried chicken could be a major blow for Chick-Fil-A's menu.
