While across the world KFC is known as the king of fried chicken, in Belgium the colonel is quickly losing ground to a local opponent – Belchicken – which is rapidly gaining market share.
The company currently operates in 47 locations in Belgium, France and Germany, and has now announced plans to expand across Europe, opening new locations in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Austria, Spain and Italy, De Tijd reports. By 2025, the company plans to operate an impressive 300 locations.
Belchicken was started by a group of Belgian-Turkish businessmen in Ghent, where the first restaurant opened under the name Chitir Chicken in 2016. The project was the initiative of Turkey's Makfry Group, which makes kitchen equipment for fast-food restaurants. The company did not operate the restaurants, but instead franchised them to local businessmen.
One of these restaurants was run by Ismaïl Yagli, a Turk who had emigrated to Belgium for business. He quickly opened several branches of Chitir Chicken. In 2019, he separated from the franchise, establishing Belchicken.
"By 2025, we want to have 300 restaurants," Belchiken CEO Fevzi Yildirim told De Tijd. "We have four branches in Germany and there are two more in the pipeline. In France, we are going from one to two restaurants."
In its home market of Belgium, the company is rapidly outshining KFC. The American fast food chain is having teething problems in the Belgian market, revising its expansion plans downwards from 40 branches to just 17 by 2025. Globally, KFC makes $31 billion in sales.
Belchicken is in a strong position in Belgium. It came onto the market two years before KFC, solidifying its reputation.
"We sensed that there was a huge gap in the market early on. In the US, fried chicken was hugely popular, but Europe – and Belgium in particular – was lagging behind. Speed is crucial in this sector. That's why we are already eyeing up many other European countries. If we don't fill the gap, our competitors will," Yildirim explained.
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The company is able to expand quickly as all its locations are run by independent vendors. The company only invests in the premises and their furnishings, and resells furnished restaurants to its operators. KFC relies on the same model, but Belchicken has so far proved more attractive to operators.
The company's model has achieved impressive results. Last year, the company posted a turnover of €42 million. "That's 70% more than one year earlier," the CEO said. "Our restaurants are all making a profit." The company maintains a margin of around 13-20%.
