The chicken manufacturers are not the only ones feeling the impact the supermarket cooked chook price wars, according to research from Roy Morgan Research.
Price competition is also affecting visitation to fast-food chicken outlets, according the researcher.
The hot chook is the latest battleground for the supermarkets, and follows in the footsteps of the bread and milk wars, which have also had wide-ranging affects on producers and processors in those industries.
This latest battleground is wider, according to Roy Morgan Research, which has found that 84.4 per cent of Australians consume chicken in average week, outstripping the proportion who drink milk (77.0%) or eat bread/toast (70.0%) in the same period.
Moreover, both supermarket giants’ shoppers have an even greater taste for chicken than the average Aussie: 89.0% of people who mainly shop at Coles and 88.5% of those who mainly shop at Woolworths eat chicken in any given seven days.
Roy Morgan says its data shows consistent, albeit moderate, year-on-year declines in visitation to fast-food chicken outlets such as KFC, Red Rooster and Nando's, among the general population as well as Coles and Woolworths shoppers.
In the 12 months to June 2015, 29.2 per cent of Australians visited at least one fast-food chicken restaurant in any given four weeks; by June 2016, this had fallen to 28.4 per cent.
Norman Morris, Industry Communications Director, Roy Morgan Research, says: “While it is too early to determine whether the roast-chicken wars will have any lasting effect on visitation to fast-food outlets like KFC or Red Rooster, it is certainly noteworthy that year-on-year figures have slipped.
“Admittedly, the decline has been slight, but the fact that it is evident across the main players must surely give pause for thought, as must the downturn among Coles and Woolies shoppers who visit fast-food chicken outlets.”
The roast chook price war was reportedly initiated to attack German discounter Aldi, and has benefited Australia's biggest chicken company, Ingham's.
Steggles and Lilydale manufacturer Baiada Poultry, on the other hand, recently announced plans to close down its processing operations in Victoria and reduce its headcount, with some pointing to the pricing battle with Ingham for supermarket sales.
