Panera on Wednesday officially entered the chicken sandwich competition.
On March 30th, “Chef’s Chicken Sandwiches” will be available at Panera locations nationwide and via the company’s app. Diners will have two options: the “Signature Take” and the “Spicy Take.” Both include a quarter pound of all-white meat chicken breast filet, marinated and seasoned with the chain’s spice blend.
Each filet is topped with a crunchy topping. The Signature version includes parmesan crisps and topped with greens on a brioche roll; the Spicy take features crispy pickle chips alongside garlic aioli and topped with a buffalo sauce. The sandwiches begin at $10.99.
Panera’s Chief Brand and Concept Officer Eduardo Luz told Yahoo Finance the sandwich is made in “Panera fashion,” with no fillers or breading, “nothing like that … just high quality meat,” taking a bit of a stab at the competition in the fight for foodies.
The ever-lengthening list of competitors includes McDonald’s (MCD), Taco Bell (YUM), KFC, Wendy’s (WEN) and Burger King (QSR), all of which entered the competition in 2021, following the initial face-off between Chick-fil-A and Popeyes in 2019.
[Read more: How Popeyes, McDonald’s came out on top in the chicken wars of 2021]
According to Luz, the St. Louis–based chain spent two years perfecting the sandwich and is ready for high demand despite major headwinds facing the industry at-large including supply chain strain, inflation and global conflicts.
“Our supply chain is ready to deal with the volumes from the market test that we did in the end of last year,” Luz told Yahoo Finance.
Brooke DiPalma is a producer and reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter at @BrookeDiPalma or email her at bdipalma@yahoofinance.com.
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