Popeyes’ vs. Jollibee’s chicken sandwich and the “Chicken Sandwich Wars”

For decades the chicken sandwich was relegated to being big “chicken nugget burgers”. In the US for example, the McDonalds McChicken sandwich seemed to grow smaller and smaller over the years until it became a small flabby oversized chicken nugget (meat made with blended white meat) with a thin film of mayo, and even thinner oily pieces of what was once lettuce. These ingredients were then sandwiched between two flimsy buns. But hey, they were a dollar! 

“Chicken Sandwich Wars” of 2019

Now in comes what people are saying are the “real” chicken sandwiches, thanks to the “Chicken Sandwich Wars”. Apparently (and thankfully) I missed the whole debacle of chicken restaurants in the US trying to best each other’s chicken sandwiches starting in 2019. Soon after, the Philippines catches on. Popeyes Philippines released its US Spicy Chicken Sandwich in late 2020 while Jollibee released their Chick’nwich late last year.

Popeyes’ chicken sandwich 

Popeyes US Spicy Chicken Sandwich has actual chicken in it, and not blended at all. The chicken was an actual chicken breast, heavily-breaded and laden with spices. The meat was dry in some places but it was thick, and better than having blender chicken made into nugget patties on the cheap. Supposedly it had pickles, but I didn’t pick up on it, probably because the huge chicken breast muscled out all the other flavors pfft.

Jollibee’s chicken sandwich 

A few months later, my partner brought in a Jollibee Chick’nwich. We actually don’t eat fast food often, but once in a while we indulge. Especially when I get curious into new fast food fads we miss because we’re older than millennials.

Jollibee’s bun is shinier (not sure how they did that) and inside was a juicy and genuine chicken breast. But not all that glitters is gold. The chicken inside was smaller than Popeyes. And it had pickles, which looked huge under the small chicken breast. Adding pickles to a Jollibee sandwich should only be done if it’s done right. It was as if a Big Mac fell in love with a Jollibee’s ChickenJoy in a teleserye on GMA, and the foreign actor playing the Big Mac left a sour taste in your mouth whenever he said “Mah-hall keet-tah” with his American accent. Despite this, the chicken breast Jollibee used was nice and juicy, juicier than Popeyes.

Verdict: Popeyes wins the battle, but they both win the war

Popeyes’ chicken was just bigger and more flavorful, while Jollibee’s was smaller but juicier; and it had teleserye pickles.

But believe it or not, all of these chicken restaurants are the same. Soon after the “chicken wars” started, Popeyes’ chicken sandwich sales went up 38% and got more than $23 million in free advertising. Jollibee reported sales growth of over 417%, and over 1.3 million pieces of Chickenjoy had been sold in 2021, with sales rising 566.9%. Overall, online spending on chicken sandwiches from many of the restaurants participating in the “war”, grew a combined 420%. They all win!

A fast food war on… health?

And there’s an even bigger war going on, and that’s for our health. Studies of college women in the Philippines have shown high levels of eating at fast food restaurants, which is further aggravated by Western ideals of thinness.

Though “overweight” and “obesity” can be used to shame people of different sizes, lack of exercise and healthy diets still affect health. A tenth of Filipino adolescents are now overweight, and where undernutrition coexists, there is a continued increase in the rate of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents from 2003 to 2011. One study in Leyte found that 40% of the 24 children studied from one town ate fast food at least once a week. A nearby town saw over 90% of 19 children having fast food 4 times a week.

The leading causes of death in the Philippines include heart disease and stroke. My mom herself had a stroke sometime before she died, and I’m sure you know a few people in your life who have suffered similar fates.

Meanwhile, fast food chains in the Philippines is a leading industry which incurred sales up to P203 billion pesos, more than twice the income of hotels and motels, in 2016 alone.

Filipinos in the US: the birthplace of fast food

The US is no different, especially for Filipinos living there. “Fast food” was practically birthed inside the arteries of America’s heartland: highways gave way to more McDonald’s and Burger Kings as the Interstate Highway system was being built over 35 years since the 1950s.

Filipinos who migrate to the United States have been known to eat 3 times as much fat, with an increased consumption of meat and dairy. When an immigrant adapts their diet in a new country, scientists call this “dietary acculturation.” Western dietary acculturation also meant higher sugar and caloric intake for Filipinos too.

Advertising in the US (as well as in the Philippines) successfully gets more people to eat more unhealthy food. In 2018, US restaurants spent $6.2 billion dollars (P316.6 billion pesos) on ads. In 2019, one-third of Americans ate at a fast food restaurant on a typical day. Researchers add that, “This adversely affects health because consumption of restaurant food, particularly fast food, is linked to higher intake of calories, fat, sodium, and cholesterol.”

A “war” on fast food workers

Last but not least, workers in the fast food industry are some of the most ill-treated, both abroad and in the Philippines. In the Philippines, wages are measured by the day or month. According to the Philippines’ Department of Labor and Employment or DOLE, the average daily pay for food workers was P380 in 2018 (about $1 an hour), which is 14% less than the daily rate of all industries which was P443 per day. A living wage for an entire family in Metro Manila is P1,065 per day ($2.50 an hour).

In the US, California’s fast-food workers earn some of the lowest wages in the state, averaging $13.27 an hour; farm workers earn even less, averaging at $13.25. Across the country the median wage of fast food workers is $11.47 an hour, which is under what is considered a “living wage” in the US at $16.54 per hour.

Issues of low wages by McDonald’s alone is rampant all around the world including wage theft, while Jollibee and many businesses in the Philippines still hire workers on contract, rather than as permanent workers with benefits.

In the end, Popeyes, Jollibee, and McDonalds always win. Everyone else loses money to the industry in exchange for high blood pressure. 

So this post went from an innocent chicken sandwich review, to a review of fast food health and employment standards. I guess just like high blood pressure, this escalated quickly.

What you can do

First you can slowly decrease your diet of fast food. I know it can be hard, I love McDonald’s french fries, and Jollibee’s Peach Mango Pie. A lot of these foods have places in people’s hearts all over the globe, but just remember they’re also in our arteries.

My partner and I love eating out, and love fast food, but we don’t do it on a weekly basis. Our daily diet consists of fruits and vegetables with light exercise throughout the week. But it took time for us to get to this, so give yourself time to do the same too.

Here are some ways to slowly decrease our love and obsession for fast food, while making sure we enjoy what we eat, or feel included with what people are enjoying in terms of food.

• Healthy chicken sandwiches: Learn to replicate fast food items at home that are healthier than the original fast food versions. Just do a quick Google search and you’ll find an air fryer chicken sandwich that you can fill with more vegetables and a vegan version of Peach Mango Pie. If you have potatoes and oil, and even better an air fryer, you can just make McDonald’s fries your way at home.
• Healthy “fast food” restaurants: If you don’t like to cook, or don’t have time (hence “fast food”), look for restaurants with healthier alternatives. Believe it or not, “healthy fast food restaurants” are more available than you think. In the Philippines vegetarian and vegan choices are springing up in bigger cities in the provinces, especially areas with high tourism.
• Filipino food is already healthy: Believe it not, it is. But restaurants and karinderias focus on fried, high fat recipes because they’re easier and faster to prepare, and people love fried food. But dishes like ampalaya, pinakbet, fresh lumpia, adobong kangkong, adobong sitaw, atsara, chopsuey, ensaladang talong, puso ng saging, gintaang kalabasa… are just as easy to find or make.
• Promote healthy eating with your nieces, nephews, and children: The food industry targets children in advertising all time, from happy meals to chocolates. In Manila, an average of 300 posters or billboards with food advertising were found within 500 meters of schools. Ads around schools in other countries only averaged 50! As they say everything starts at home. There are many cheap, healthy, and easy-to-make baon and lunches for children online, and when you start eating or cooking healthy, include them in the process and decision-making too.
• “Start locally”: What are some programs your local government is doing in terms of healthy food and living? What does your neighborhood school feed children? The Department of Education or DepEd actually has a nationwide policy on getting healthier food for schools and DepEd offices. It’s called DepEd Order No. 13, s. 2017 “Policy and guidelines on healthy food and beverage choices in schools and in DepEd offices.” Is this being implemented at your local school or DepEd office? If not, in what ways can you assist them? If you’re a parent, are you active in your local Parent Teacher Association? How are they promoting healthy eating among children and parent peers?

If you have more ideas or thoughts on lowering our dependence on fast food, and maintaining healthy eating in our families and neighborhoods, let me know!