Thursday saw US fast food giant Chick-fil-A become the latest US fast food chicken chain to open their doors in Northern Ireland at the Applegreen service station in Lisburn. The chain, famous for their pickle-brined chicken sandwiches and waffle fries, joins the likes of Popeyes, Slim Chickens and Canadian chain MB Chicken to open their doors here in recent months.
With that in mind, we hit the streets of Belfast to ask the public if they thought we had gone a bit 'clucking mad' or if they welcomed the influx of chicken chains popping up.
Most of the people we spoke to welcomed the new businesses but thought that there should be more variety in the offerings of the fast food chains opening here.
One man who was visiting Belfast from Dublin said: "I don't think there can ever be enough chicken shops, but what there is, there's too many average to bad chicken shops in the north, I think. I've had Popeyes, and we're actually going to do Chick-fil-A today, but Popeyes, I thought it was pretty average. I didn't think it was fantastic.There hasn't been any stand out in the north so far for me."
Another shopper in the city centre told us that she thought the chicken chains were "overrated" and that there were "too many of them" while her friend called for more vegetarian options.
"It would be pretty good if the chicken shops could offer some more vegetarian options," she said.
Another shopper from the south said that there were not many chicken shops in the Republic of Ireland and had concerns about the prices they were charging.
"There's not many chicken shops in the Republic.There would be more in the chippers themselves, but you can see a lot of American fast food chains are coming in here and they're hiking up the prices because they can, and people will be lining up outside the door. Chick-fil-A is going to be packed for the next three weeks, and then no one's going to be going to them," he said.
One girl told us that she thought the chains were "all kind of the same."
"MB Chicken that just opened and when I first went there, i t was just mediocre.It wasn't the best, and I worked right there, so it's handy to go there, but it's just not that good. I think there could bea range of food, like different cuisines, instead of just chicken. They could do Asian food, Filipino food, like different sorts of ranges of food instead of just chicken," she said.
When it comes to chains that have yet to open, there is along list that the public we spoke to would welcome including In-And-Out Burger, Raising Cain's and Dave's Hot Chicken, which last year was bought by the parent company who also own Belfast-based Mexican chain Boojum.
Video by Harry Bateman/Belfast Live
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