Should you Buy a Burger Franchise or a Chicken Franchise?

Key Takeaway

Stuck choosing between a burger franchise and a chicken franchise? The best move is to find a brand that doesn't force you to pick just one. While chicken concepts often limit you to lunch and dinner, a versatile burger franchise like Jack in the Box offers a massive 24/7 menu featuring both premium burgers and a huge variety of chicken options—from spicy sandwiches to teriyaki bowls. By investing in a brand with menu diversity, you capture customers from every category and day-part.

At Jack in the Box, we understand both of these types of franchises because our innovative menu features burgers, chicken, tacos, and so much more.

In this article, we’ll go over some of the most important things you should understand between a burger franchise vs chicken franchise.

What Is a Burger Franchise?

A burger franchise is typically defined as a restaurant that primarily focuses their menu on the segment of beef or hamburgers.

Some of the most popular burger franchises in the United States are:

• Jack in the Box
• McDonald’s
• Burger King
• Wendy’s
• Whataburger
• Freddy's
• Culver's

These brands have a history of serving a wide variety of burgers along with fries, onion rings, or side salads. Plus, desserts like cookies and milkshakes.

Burger franchises are some of the most popular restaurants in the United States and have been expanding into international markets.

What Is a Chicken Franchise?

A chicken franchise is typically defined as a restaurant that primarily focuses their menu on the fried or grilled chicken segment.

Some of the most popular chicken franchises in the United States are:

• Chick-Fil-A
• Zaxby’s
• KFC
• Popeye’s
• Bojangle’s

Their menus include items like chicken fingers, chicken sandwiches, chicken nuggets, chicken salads, chicken wings, chicken biscuits, and anything else chicken related.

Most of their combos give you the option to select fries, coleslaw, mashed potatoes, mac & cheese, and biscuits as your sides.

The majority of chicken franchises gained popularity in the Southeastern U.S. and now they can be found in cities and towns around the world.

Menu Wars: Do Burger or Chicken Franchises Offer More Variety?

When comparing the differences between a burger franchise vs chicken franchise, you’ll notice they have a few things in common.

Most burger franchises offer chicken items on their menu. On the other hand, most chicken franchises stick exclusively to chicken on the menu.

At Jack in the Box, we consider ourselves to be much more than a burger joint especially within the chicken category.

Here are some of the awesome chicken-based items we serve at Jack in the Box:

• Cluck Sandwich
• Jack’s Spicy Chicken
• Homestyle Ranch Chicken Club
• Crispy Chicken Strips
• Chicken Nuggets
• Jack’s Chicken Teriyaki Bowl
• Chicken Fajita Pita
• Southwest Chicken Salad
• Grilled Chicken Salad
• Chicken Club Salad

You may find a few chicken restaurants that offer seafood like a fried fish sandwich. Popeyes even offers a surf & turf meal with fried shrimp.

Being able to offer a variety of menu items in different food categories is a unique competitive advantage your customers will enjoy.

Burger Franchise vs Chicken Franchise: Breakfast Menu

Some burger franchises will offer a breakfast menu featuring common staples like bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits, breakfast burritos, and hashbrowns until a certain time before noon.

Jack in the Box offers our entire menu 24/7 so we can meet the needs of our customers regardless of when their cravings strike.

You’ll notice most chicken franchises do not offer a breakfast menu and are open specifically for the hours of lunch and dinner.

Chick-Fil-A is one of the few exceptions with their chicken biscuit, chick-n-minis, and scramble burrito which is served until 10:30AM at most locations.

Check Out These Additional Resources

We hope this article gave you a better understanding of the differences between a burger franchise vs chicken franchise.

At Jack in the Box, we work with our franchisees every step of the way to get their restaurants up and running.

Here are some additional online resources you may like to check out:

• How Much Does a Jack in the Box Franchise Cost?
• 5 Benefits of Multi-Unit Franchising with Jack in the Box
• What’s a Franchise Disclosure Document?

If you have any questions, please contact our franchise sales and support team.