The Fast Food Chicken Sandwich That Got Too Much Hype When It Was Released

Few things are more delicious than a fried chicken sandwich. Let's get that cleared up right away. No one is saying that a fast-food chicken sandwich can't be delicious. But at the end of the day, a chicken sandwich is just a chicken sandwich. When the Popeyes chicken sandwich hit the market in 2019, you would have thought people had discovered time travel or the Lost City of Atlantis. Things got out of hand fast.

Even though it wasn't that long ago, you may not remember all the drama that was drummed up in the media about the so-called Chicken Sandwich Wars. The restaurant debuted its new sandwich and immediately got into a social media pseudo-fight with Chick-fil-A and Wendy's on X (then known as Twitter), with the various accounts trading sassy barbs. It sounds silly now, but it worked like a charm. Other massive chains like McDonald's, Burger King, and Taco Bell joined in with their own chicken sandwiches, and it became great social media and blog fodder. Many a chicken sandwich was eaten and compared. While we did rank Popeyes' sandwich highly on our list of the chain's menu items, there was a dark side.

As one of the most overhyped fast-food items of all time, the Popeyes chicken sandwich swept people up in the frenzy. The media kept fanning the flames. They reported a chicken sandwich shortage. It sold out after two weeks. The New Yorker said the sandwich was "here to save America." Then things got violent.

Popeyes saw an increase in traffic of over 200% following the release of its chicken sandwich, so the company was loving all of the attention. The same was not true of everyone else, however. Fistfights broke out at Popeye's locations after people waited in line for over an hour to get served. One customer pulled a gun on employees after he was told the sandwich was sold out. Worst of all, two customers got into a fight that ended in murder when one stabbed the other for cutting in line.

Elsewhere, it was greed that drove the dark side of the chicken sandwich wars. People were reselling the sandwiches online for huge markups. A man in Maryland offered one for $100 plus a nearly $40 delivery fee in August 2019. Rapper Quavo posted a video of his trunk full of sandwiches with an offer to sell them for $1,000 apiece. Some online auctions reached $10,000, though it's hard to imagine that was serious.

If you've never had a Popeyes chicken sandwich since its release, you'd be forgiven if you thought this thing was life-changing. As new and novel as it was back in 2019, the fact remains: Everyone knew it was a chicken sandwich. If you've had Popeyes chicken tenders and bread, you already know what it tastes like. When hype gets to the point that people are getting hurt and dying, things have gotten out of control. Nevertheless, more restaurants joined in, from Bojangles to Zaxby's to Church's. If you want to experience a truly delicious sandwich, we have a ton of recipes better than fast food right here.